Lucky Charms
by Bleeding Writer
Summary: Garfield meets Raven in kindergarten and becomes automatic best friends with her.A day before she disappeared he gave her his lucky charm,and in return,she gave him hers.What happens when she reappears 9 years later?Full summary on profile.BBXRAE fanfic.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. **

**Hello, it's me again with another fanfic. This story changes POV. It's usually between Raven and Beastboy but there is some regular POV too. So I hope you enjoy. This took a long time to put it together. In the first three chapters they change ages too. In this one they're around the ages of five and six.**

**Now that that's done, on with the story!**

**Chapter 1:**

**Meeting for the First Time**

Dum-dodedo-dum…

I like to color. A little blue… let's add some purple. Oh! Some green. Lots and lots of green.

"Hey Raben! Whad are you drawin'?" Victor asks.

"A forest," I said back, with a smile, "What aboud you?"

"A thandwich. I'm hungry," he said, letting his face drop.

"Victor," I chuckle, "You're always hungry.

Laughing back, he said, "I know. But I'm a growin' boy. I need to eat."

"Hey Victor!" I hear an annoying voice call.

I turn to see Roy with that annoying smirk on his freckled- covered face.

"Do you rust when it rains? My dad says metal rusts and it gets all nasty. So do you?" he teases.

"No, I don'd ged all ruthdy," Victor said in response.

"Then, what's that brown stuff on your "foot"?" Roy said as he pointed to Victor's foot.

Victor looks down. There was a bit of brown, crusty stuff on his foot. Victor's eyes welled up with tears, "I need t-to ged my legth fithed. T-Thad'th all."

Roy and the group began to point and laugh at him. They cracked jokes and said cruel words about metal leg. And it made me mad. No messes with my big brother.

I get up and walk up to Roy, "Hey! Do-do head! Leave him alone!"

Roy and his group laughs some more, "Aha ha! You got's a girl standing up for you! A little girl! Not only do you rust but a girl fights for you!"

Victor starts to cry some more, making me madder. I grabbed Roy by the shirt, "Do you remember the last time you made me mad?"

He nodded, fearfully.

"Do you want to repeat that? Or better yet…how about I kiss you instead?"

Roy really got scared and wiggles like a worm to get away. This made me feel good again.

"Leave Victor alone or I'll kiss you!" I said. Roy squirms even more. I feel even better. I push him down and stand my ground, smirking down upon him. "Now go away or I will give you all cooties!" I yell, proudly.

All the guys gasp and run away to their seats. Yes, it's good to be a girl and be feared by all the boys.

"You okay, Victor?" I ask turning to him.

"Yeth. Thank you, Raben," he said.

I nod, "That's what I do."

I have been protecting him and my other friend, Richard since the day they showed up. They were being made fun of because of how they looked.

Victor had been in an accident and he lost his arm and a leg. He also, lost his mom. They gave him a new arm and leg made metal. He also has a really bad lisp.

Richard is the one who was closer to being normal one. He has one blue eye and one brown one. He is very myst-mysterious and very serious. He likes to be alone a lot too. He's made fun of because of his strange ways.

As for me, I have really pale skin, purple eyes and natural purple hair. I have a thingy called a ch-chakra in the middle of my forehead. I fight boys and I'm a girl who has "cooties." And I'm made fun of but I make them pay for it.

"Okay kids! Today we have a new student. Everybody meet Garfield."

Oh boy. Here we go again…

* * *

No…I don't want anyone to see me. I grab and hold onto the teacher's leg and I hide behind her skirt.

"Oh! He's just a little shy. Come on out, Garfield," she said.

I shake my head "no." I'm not going out there. What if they make fun of me?

"Garfield, come on. It's okay," she says.

My lip gets all shaky. I can't hide here forever. Okay…here I go.

I step from behind her, letting me be seen.

"See, that wasn't so bad," she said. But then, the class started to laugh.

"Look at dat kid! Aha!"

"He's green! Ha, ha, ha!"

I hid back behind the teacher as she asked them to be quiet.

"Hey! Leave him alone! And be quiet of I'll kiss each and every one of you boys and I'll hit all of you girl!" a girl with purple hair yelled. The entire class went quiet and stopped.

She must be a bully.

"Thank you, sweetie but no fighting or hitting. That's bad. Now sit down," the teacher said to the girl, "Garfield, why don't you sit over there for right now."

She pointed to a seat at an empty table in the corner. Thank God…

"Okay class, we're going to go over our-."

_**BEEEEEEP!**_

"Oh, I guess it's recess time. Let's go outside, class!"

The teacher turned to see me there. Only me. I sigh and got up to go outside.

Great…

* * *

"One, two, buckle my shoe. Three, four, shut the door…" I sang as I jumped, "Faster!"

"You thure Raben?" Victor asks.

I nod my head, "Yes."

"Otay…here we go," he said as he signaled to our friend Wanda to turn faster.

"One, Two buckle my shoe. Three, four, shut the door. Five, six, pick up sticks-."

"Raven, Raven!" Richard called.

I turned to face him while still jumping, "Yeah?"

"Roy and 'dem are picking on that green new kid!" Richard said.

I stopped jumping, "Where are they?"

"Follow me!" he said as he started to run.

I ran behind him, across the playground and into the field. And there they were – pushing the poor kid around. I got really angry at them and ran towards them.

"Hey! Didn't I say to leave him alone?" I yell, angrily.

"Why don't you get out of here, girly?" Roy said, letting the boy go.

"Girly?" I said before I jump on him and hit over and over again. He started to cry and yell for help. "Look who's girly now," I smile, proudly.

I get off him and I look at everyone else. They all jumped. Ha, ha…scaredy cats.

"Listen up! You will leave him, Victor, and Richard alone! If you do udder wise then you will answer to me and my fist! Got it?"

The kids nods all scared like and ran off. I watch them run until I couldn't see them anymore. I turn to look at the new kid but he was gone.

* * *

Please don't find me. Please don't find me.

My heart is beating so loud. She might hit me. She's so scary, she scares the udder bullies. If I just sit here in this bush really quiet maybe she won't find me.

_**Snap!**_

Oh no…please don't let it be her. I start to cry. I'm going to get bead up! I want my Mommy!

"Hey," she says as she comes through the bush, "Are you okay?"

Why does she sound so nice?

"There's nothing for you to worry about anymore. I scared dose losers away. They'll leave you alone as long as I'm here," she said as she sat down.

"B-but," I start, "Aren't you a bully?"

I curl up waiting to get hit but I wasn't.

She just chuckles and says, "No, silly. I just bead up the udder bullies and help out the kids who they think looks funny. Trust me, I won't hurt you like I hurt them."

"Why?"

"'Cause you're my friend, right?"

"Friend?"

"Yeah, friend."

"You- you want to be my friend?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because you look like you need one and plus…"

She reaches up and plays with my green hair a bit, "You look cool."

"…" I say.

"So…are we friends?"

"…I don't know your name."

"Rachael Angelina Roth. Call me Raven. And you?"

"Garfield Mark Logan. Call me Gar."

"Nice to meet you, Gar."

"Nice to meet you, Raven."

We shook hands, smiling at each other. Dis girl isn't scary at all. She's really nice.

"So are we friends now?" she asks, letting go of my hand.

I smile wider and nod my head, "Yes!"

"Good, 'cause I want you to meet my udder friends," she said as she started to climb out the bush, "Follow me."

I climb out of the bush and I see her standing, waiting for me.

"Come on!" she said with a smile and started to run.

I ran after her, trying not to lose her. I might run into the udder bullies again. Soon, we got to the black top and we stopped.

"Okay, Gar, I'd like you to meet my friends Victor," she pointed to the brown boy.

"Wanda," she pointed to the girl with black hair and really big blue eyes.

"And Richard," she pointed to the blue and brown eyed boy, "Guys, this is Gar."

They all said, "Hi," to me and smiled. I did the same back.

"Hey, do you want to play basketball?" the black haired girl asks.

Before I can say anything, Raven grabs my hand and pulls me over to the court.

"Hey, waid we thtill haf to pick teamth!" Victor calls as he gets to the court, "Me and Rich are team leaderth! And I call Gar!"

"I choose Raven!"

"Over here, Wanda!"

"Hey! You gots more players!"

"Yeah bud you gotth Raben!"

"…Fair enough. Let's play!"

We play basketball for the rest of recess and when we went inside, I sat with them too. And just like Raven promised, she didn't hurt me and no one made fun of me. I finally made friends…friends I can relate too. They are all dif-different jusd like me. But…no matter how close to normal she is. I think she relates to me the most. She's not scary…she jusd has some really sharp edges. I think, she'll be my best friend.

* * *

**A/N: New story. Hoped you enjoyed. Sorry about the really bad grammatical errors but they are around the age of five and it's through they're point of view so it's expected. They're around eight or nine years old next chapter. And don't you just love Vic's lisp? I know I do! Um...I **_**will **_**update just about every Monday (not this Monday but Mondays) unless I say otherwise. So check in, then. Well, that's all for now…review! Peace!**

**Bleeding Writer**

**P.S. Can anyone guess who Wanda is from the series (from both the Comic book and the Show. She showed up but you didn't really see her unless you paid real close attention)? **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.**

**Note: There is child abuse in this chapter. You have been warned.**

**Chapter 2:**

**Forever**

_Three years later…_

"Hey Raaaaven!" he calls.

"What do you want, Gar?" I say to him, not looking away from my book.

"Let's go to the tower," he said.

"Why can't we stay here?" I ask.

"Don't you remember what day it is?" he asks.

I close my book and sigh, "The day I scared Roy out of his mind and met you."

It's been exactly three years since the day we met. Three years from the day he made his very first friend. And he won't let me ever forget it…ever. But it's not like I could. As much as I make it seem like it's not important to me (which it is). Today was the day I met him, my very, _very _best friend. Today is as important to me as it is to him. But I'm not going to let him know that.

"Exactly! So let's go to the tower!" he said, pulling me up.

The tower, it was actually a tree house we built during our second summer together, with Victor and his father (Richard was sent away to karate camp and Wanda had moved away). We spent a month building and decorating the inside of it. And another month playing in it or around it. It was the best summer of my life. But I refuse to let him know that as well.

"Fine," she sighs.

Yes!

Going to the tower was my favorite things to do as it is hers. She just refuses to tell me so. But I know she does…I think.

I smile and begin to walk with her to the tower.

"You know, it's weird that you only do this with me. I mean, you met the others on this day as well," she says.

"Well, you were my first friend and my best friend. So I like to celebrate that. Besides, now that we're in different classes we don't hang out as much," I shrug, "Hey I'll race ya there."

"You're on!" she says as she starts to run.

We raced down the street, around the corner, and into the woods. Over the logs, through the brush and there we were.

I reached the ladder first and started to climb, "Got here before you," I snickered. I climb up higher and reached the tower. I look back down and to see Raven climbing her way up the ladder. When she got close enough I reach my hand out to her. She grabbed it and pulled herself up as I pull her up. I'm a gentleman, you know.

She murmured a "thank you" and went into the tower; our _amazing _tower if I don say so myself. It had two chairs, three bean bag chairs, a book case, a small table, a tool box and a secret compartment full of a never ending supply of snacks. To be honest, it wouldn't be much to other people but to me, Vic, and Raven it was the world; a world that we built…with Vic's dad, of course. I mean, we were only six and a half except Vic; he was seven and three quarters. Anyway, it meant more to us than anybody, including Richard.

"Okay, so what do we do now?" she asked as she looked at her book case.

"Well, I don't know, really. How about we just talk?"

"About what?" she asks, facing me. I shrug and look around trying to find something to talk about. As I look, something gold shimmers in my eye.

* * *

He turns his head and looks at me. He pointed to me, "What's up with that necklace? I mean, since the day I met you, you've had that around your neck."

I put my hand on my necklace.

"This? It's my good luck charm. My mom gave it to me for my birthday; the year I met you. I keep it with me all the time."

He nods with a smile and pulled out some coin from his pocket.

"I have something like that; my lucky penny," he said.

"Did you pick that off the ground one day?" I say, rolling my eyes.

"No, it was my grandfather's. He picked it up and met my grandma the exact same day. He gave it to my dad and he met my mom that day as well," he explained.

"Well, what about you?" I ask.

"I met you and the other's the day I got it," he shrugged, "It's brought luck to the males of the Logan family for years."

He smirks at me, "Actually, you know what?"

He walks up to me and held out his hand that was holding the penny, "Here, take it. You can have it."

Shocked by this, I said, "What? No…it's been in your family for generations. I can't take it. I won't."

He grabs my hand and places the penny in it. I tried to give it back but he refused.

"No, you keep it because as long as you have that I will always be with you. And we'll be friends forever."

I chuckle, "You sound like a girl when you say that."

He laughs at my shot at humor. My laughter dies down as I think of something to repay him. My lucky charm!

I reach behind my neck and unhook my necklace.

"Well, if I'm going to have your lucky charm," I start as I peel the necklace off, "You might as well have my lucky charm."

"You don't have to do that Raven," he says.

"I don't but I want to," I say as I put it around his neck, "You're going to need some luck too. And I want to always be with you just like you will always be with me."

I let go and lean back, "Gold suits you."

He looks down at the charm with a smile.

"Heh, it's a raven," he chuckles, "It's pretty funny. Your nickname and the…charm…heh, heh."

"You have no words to say, do you?" I say simply.

He puts a hand behind his neck, "That obvious?"

I laugh, "Oh yeah."

_He_ starts to laugh as well, fiddling with the new necklace around his neck. Eventually, our laughter died down.

"But I really like it. Thank you," he says with a smile.

"No problem," I say, "Friends forever?"

His smile grows broader, "Forever."

We hang out there for the rest of the day, in our tower. Just talking, joking, and playing until it grew dark.

We left the tower as well as the woods and headed home. When we got to the part where we go our separate ways, Gar spoke, "Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Raven. Remember we're-."

"…Waking up early and watching the sunrise tomorrow before school, I know. See you, Gar," I say back to him.

He smiled and waved just before he ran home.

I watched him run home as I walked away smiling as I did so. I sigh while fiddling with the penny in my pocket. Suddenly, I felt something flutter in my stomach; a lot of fluttering. Shrugging it off, I continue to walk as I heard yelling coming from my house.

Oh no…Dad's home and by the sound of it, he was most likely drunk.

Every good thought that I had disappeared as I got closer to the nightmare that is supposed to be called my home. I got to the house and walked into the backyard. I open the doors that lead to the cellar and climbed down, closing the doors behind me. Turning to the left, I go into the "elevator" and start to pull the rope so that I can go up. I pass the second floor and up to the third. I wrap the rope around its hook to prevent it from going down. I climb out and quietly go into my room. But I know that my mother knows that I'm here.

They were yelling again. They do this almost every day. Dad gets mad, he yells at mom, she yells back, and they soon start bashing each other in a drunken (or at least, on my father's side) rage. Did anyone know about this? Not a chance.

"_I've had it! I can't take it anymore! I can't take you and your bitch fits anymore! I'm divorcing you and I'm taking Raven!"_

"_What? No! You're not taking my baby away from me!"_

Wait, what?

I heard footsteps running upstairs. My mom runs into my room, closes the door and locks it. She ran over to me and fell to her knees.

"Mommy?" I say, fearfully. She was crying uncontrollably and she couldn't really breathe. She grabbed me and pulled me into a tight hug. "Mommy? What's wrong? What's going on?" I ask as tears start to form in my eyes.

"Everything's okay, sweetie. Everything's fine," she said but I could tell that she was lying.

_**Bang!**_

_**Bang!**_

_**Bang!**_

"Mommy?" I say again, hoping for comfort.

_**Cra-Boom!**_

My father kicks my door down and it breaks into half. My mother held onto me tighter as I did to her.

"You stupid pathetic wench!" he said as he rose his hand to strike her.

"No!" she and I both cry.

His hand came down and struck her off of me and onto the ground. He looks at me and starts grabbing a few of my things in my room. As he did this, I grab my mom's picture and her fine silver brush that she gave me along with a photo book. I found a bag and threw the things into it. I know that if I did leave those would be the last things he'd ever grab.

As I finish packing my things, my mother picks me up and carried me to another room. We go into their bathroom and lock the door. She put me down and went to the window and tried to open it but it didn't move. She turned back around and came to me. She wrapped her arms around me and whispered, "Don't worry, sweetie. Mommy's here," she whispered as she kissed my hair, "Mommy will always be here."

Her face cheek was red and her lip was bleeding. Tears pours out of her eyes like a river and her eyes were red.

_**Bang!**_

_**Bang!**_

"_Open this door_! I'm getting _really tired_ of all of this!" my father yells.

"I'm getting _tired_ of you! Why don't you go if you're so tired, _asshole_?" my mother yells back.

"Not without my daughter!"

"She's _my_ daughter and you won't take her away from me! You can't!"

_**Crack-Boom!**_

"We'll just have to see about that," he said, coldly, before he hit her again and grabs me.

"No!" I scream, as I struggle against him. He can't take me away from her. No! Not without a fight.

Mommy got up and crawls over to him as he turns to leave. She grabs my hands, "No! No! Leave her alone!"

"Shut up!" he said as he kicks her off.

"No! Raven! _Raven_! Please! Trigon, don't do this!" she calls as she got up and ran back to me, "Don't take that

He tried to push her, kick her, hit her to get her off but she got back up and tried to pry me away from him.

"Mommy!" I scream with tears rolling down my face.

I struggle and reach for her. I held on to whatever I could grab to get away. I scream for her just to get her to get up and try again. I cry loudly just because I couldn't hold it anymore. I couldn't control it. But despite all efforts from me and from her, he kept on going. We eventually got outside and to his car.

"Raaven! _Raaaven_!" she cries.

"Mommy!" I cry back as my father threw me in the back of the car.

"Trigon, don't do this! She's the only one I have!" she said as she spun him to make him look at her.

His hand hit her face again and struck her to the ground, "I gave you the damn fuckin' house, didn't I? Be happy with that!" he said before he turned. He got in the car and locked it quickly.

Mommy got up and ran to his door, "Please! Please! I'm begging you, don't do this!"

But he ignores her and started to drive. She followed the car, "No. No! No! _Nooo_!"

As the car got faster so did she, "Raven! Raven! Raven! _Raaven_!"

I look out the back window watching her run after me, trying her best to keep up.

"Mommy, no. please…please Mommy. Run faster," I begged as she got further.

About 10 minutes later, she finally disappeared from sight. She couldn't run fast enough.

I continue to watch all the familiar streets disappear. I was still crying. Not only for my Mom but for my friends. Especially, Gar. Because I know that I won't be coming back. I'll never see him again. I'll never show up to watch that sunrise with him. I'll be gone…forever.

* * *

**A/N: Hello everyone. I hope you enjoy this chapter (even though I don't think it's all that good). It gets better, I promise! Um…next chapter they will be teenagers so yeah. It'll definitely be better. Well that's all for now…review please! Peace!**

**Bleeding Writer**

**P.S. The answer was Wonder Girl.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.**

**Note: I have some of my own characters here. I don't know why I did it. This was written a while ago and I have them. To try to change the story without them is difficult and I rather not go through the process. If you don't like it, oh well. **

* * *

**Chapter 3:**

**Today's Going to be a Long Day**

_Nine years later…_

_**Beep!**_

"_Good morning, Jump City! What a lovely Monday it is! Today-."_

I slam my hand down on the off button of my radio. I seriously, don't want to wake up.

"Garfield, wake up! You have school!" my mom calls.

"Mmm…I'm up!" I call back, slowly raising my head from my pillow. I sit up on my bed and run my hand through my green hair as I sigh, "Another year."

I look over at my dresser and see my picture of her; of Raven. It is the anniversary of the day that we met and the day she disappeared. I fiddle with my golden necklace that I've never taken off since she gave it to me.

"Garfield! I don't hear movement!" my mom yells.

"I'm up!" I call, "Sheesh…give me a break."

I got up from my bed and start my normal morning routine. Bathroom, shower, cloth, prime, grab-n-check, and go.

But before I leave, I stop at my dresser. I look at the picture that she and I took together.

We took it when we were about six, in the summer. We were playing by the creek and Raven ended up tripping into the water. But she grabbed my wrist before she fell, pulling me in with her. we both were covered from head to toe in mud. Just so happened that Vic had a camera and took the picture.

It was the best and the funniest summer of our lives. I only wish we had some more of them. I sigh and turn to head out.

"It's going to be a long day," I say slowly.

I walk down the stairs, heading for the kitchen. There I see my mother, my father, and the four nightmares.

"Good morning, Garfield," my dad said to me.

I just wave hi and grab a piece of toast.

"Garfield, sweetie, are you okay? You seem a bit down," my mother asks.

"I'm fine," I mumble while I turn to leave.

Why can't she remember what today is for me?

"Oh, could you get over it? I mean-geez- it's been like nine years. Move on."

Great, the second nightmare remembers…

"Shut up, Phyfer," I growl.

"Phyfer, what are you talking about?" my mom asks.

"Every year he gets like this on this day because some girl named Raven," she shrugs, "I don't really know who she is but he needs to get over it. She's gone…get a life, green boy."

"I said, shut up!" I yell, turning to face her.

"Garfield!" my dad yells back.

"She started it," I spat more towards her than to my father.

"I don't care. I'll finish it! And you don't use that tone with me or anyone else in this family. Do you understand me?" he scolded.

"Fine," I growl as I turn to leave again. I'm really not in the mood for any of this.

"I'm out," I say as I shut the door to the garage.

Today's gonna be a long day.

***

_**Beep!**_

"_Come break me down! Bury me, bury me! I am finished with you-."_

I slam my hand down on my alarm, shutting it up for the day.

Ugh, it's too early for this.

I slowly get up and sit on my bed. I sigh, "Another day, another year."

I slowly slid out of my bed and onto the floor. I reach underneath my bed and pull out my little box. It was a simple shoe box but the items in it were worth more than anything to me. I open it and pull out my little picture book that held all of my happy childhood memories.

The day I met Victor, Wanda, and Richard. The first day of school. When I first met Roy. That was also the first time I beat him up. My mother and I. the summer I spent with Gar. And my eighth surprise birthday party.

That had to be one of the best days of my life. Gar had planned it with my mom and his mom. He had picked the colors, theme, guests, and the cake. Sure, he had scared the hell out of me and I hit him afterward for it but I had really appreciated it. In the picture, Gar had his arm over my shoulders and I had mine over his. We both had weird party hats on our heads and sparklers in our hands. We had the biggest smiles on our faces.

I sigh as I brought a hand up to the penny around my neck, "It's going to be a long day."

It was another day that I had to live without him. Another day without my mom. Another year had gone by without seeing Gar. Another school but it was an old home. The home I was dragged away from. The home where my mother had died. The home that felt more like Hell than anything. The nightmare that I'm supposed to call home.

I sigh again as I put the photo book back in its box and put the box back under the bed. I get up and begin my day. I go to the bathroom and take care of my personal hygiene. I blow dry my hair, get dressed, check all of my things, and go but very quietly.

I go into the hallway only to have my ears flooded with the sounds of my father's snoring.

Thank goodness…he's asleep.

I slowly creep downstairs and into the kitchen that smells heavily of alcohol due to the multiple open bottles spread throughout the room. I roll my eyes as I reach into the cabinet to get a raspberry poptart and a bottle of water.

_**Be-beep! Be-beep! Be-beep! Be-.**_

I slam my hand down on the stop button of my watch, hurting myself process. I look up at the stairs and listen for his snoring.

Still as loud as ever; good.

I sigh in relief and head out the door before he actually does wake up.

***

I drive up to the school and park. Before I get out the car, I sit there for a while just trying to calm myself down. Not only is it the day that Raven disappeared but it's the day that I'm really _testy. _I usually am not. I'm usually the happy-go-lucky, comic relief, class clown. Not a depressed, angry, bitter, grouch. But because of everything that happened on this day, well, I think I have a damn pretty good excuse. Running a hand through my hair, I sigh. I grab my book bag and leave my car. Eventually, I make it into the school and up to my locker.

"Yo what's up, G?" Vic greets.

"Hey Gar, what's going on?" Rich asks.

I shrug as I focus on getting my locker open.

"Hey wanna go play some soccer later on after school?" Vic asks, not realizing anything.

I shake my head, "Not in the mood."

In the corner of my eye I can see them look at each other as if they were asking, "What's with him?"

Slamming my locker shut, I say, "Today's the day Raven disappeared. That's what's up."

I turn and walk passed them, disgusted that they even don't remember. They've known her longer than I have and they don't even remember her. I guess I was the only one who cares about her.

I hear them sigh in exasperation. They're gonna bug me in three…two…

"Come on, Gar. Lighten up."

Told ya.

"Yeah man, that was-what? Six years ago-."

Nine years ago, Vic. And no, I won't lighten up," I said turning to face them, "Today is the day I met Raven. Today is the day I met you guys. Today is the day that Raven disappeared. Does that not mean anything to you?! She was your friend. She protected us throughout almost all elementary school from the kids who made fun of us, who just happen to be our friends now. She was the one who accepted us when no one else did. If it wasn't for her I would still be the shy, scared, miserable green boy that I was when I first moved here. So don't you dare tell me to fuckin' lighten up!"

Their eyes widened as they back up. I was pissed and they knew that wasn't a good thing. I have been known to get very violent and merciless when I get angry. Which I rarely do because no one really gets me ticked off so easily.

"Whoa man. Hey, we miss Raven too. But that was nine years ago," Vic starts, keeping a good amount of distance away from me.

"Yeah, life moves on. We've moved on. Why don't you?" Rich asks.

I bow my head as I clench my fists, restraining myself from them, "Because Raven is still connected to me and unlike you I can't just forget about her," I say in a low, spiteful tone.

I turn away from them and walk away only to be found by my girlfriend, Terra, "Gar, there you are. Where have you been?"

I close my eyes so she won't notice me rolling them, "I got caught up."

She kissed me on the lips, "You were supposed to meet me at my locker."

"I know. I said, I got caught up," I said, in an almost annoyed tone.

"Oh okay, how are you today?" she asks.

I sigh, "Please don't make me answer that question." And in my language it means, "I'm having a bad day. I don't want to talk about it now. Maybe later."

She nods her head and hugs me.

"Hey lovebirds! Come on, we got class," Vic calls.

Terra and I pull away from each other and start to walk hand in hand to chemistry class.

***

I enter the school, receiving dirty looks from everyone who saw me. but I don't care. They don't know me and they most likely won't. I continue to walk down the hall and into the office to get my schedule and my locker number and combination. I take a seat as I wait to get my information.

This school's systems are so unorganized, I can tell.

I lean my head back against the wall and sigh.

Please let this day go faster.

I hear snickers from somewhere around me. I feel eyes on me and someone pointing. I lift my head up and look in the direction from where I felt it. there I saw a blonde haired, blue eyed, skinny-as-a-stick, short skirt wearing, fake nosed, flat ass, itty bitty titty committee member little girl. Beside her was a tall, tanned skinned, black haired, dark eyed, menacing looking girl who I suppose is the blonde twit's lackey. Needless to say, I already know that we're not going to get along.

"Um excuse me, but uh…what were you thinking when you walked out of your house this morning?" she laughs.

Without so much as a blink of an eye, I say, "I was thinking, "Great. Now I'm not going to look like the bitch that sucks at teasing."

I see her eyes narrow in anger, "What did you say?"

I look forward as the secretary motions me over, "I'm going to repeat myself if you could not comprehend the first time. And if you don't know what comprehend means, go Google it."

And with that I get up and walk towards the front desk, collecting my information.

Her eyes burned with fire. She growls as she storms over to me, "Now you listen to me. I am not the girl to mess with. I can make your experience a slightly good one or I can make it bad. I can make life easy for you or I can make it a living Hell. Do you understand me?"

I look at her and say simply, "You're too late. But you are as clear as crystal."

I get my things and walk passed her as if she wasn't there.

Today's going to be longer than I thought.

I look down at my schedule. Chemistry room, 425. Great…

* * *

**A/N: Hello everyone. It's another week, which means a new update! I hope you guys like this chapter. Mind the note above if you already haven't. Um…I'm sure some of you are confused as to the last POV's. The last one happened a little bit before Terra and Gar met up. Yeah, they will do that from time to time. Try your best to keep up, it's not that complicated. Well that's all for now...review please. Peace!**

**Bleeding Writer**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.**

**Chapter 4:**

**The Return of Raven**

Why am I here again?

I could've pretended I was sick and not come here. Everyone is joking and laughing, while I'm depressingly scowling and being angry at the world. This just sucks.

_**Rrriingg!!**_

Great…the teacher is going to yell in three…two…

"Class! Sit down right now!"

What can I say, I'm a psychic. The class settled down and took their sits. About time…they were starting to wear me down further.

"Now class, before we get into our lesson for today, I like to let you know we have a new student," Mrs. Singleton rambles.

"We got a new student? I wonder who it is," Roy whispers.

"No shit, Sherlock," I growl.

"I wonder if it's a chick," Garth whispers.

"If it is, I call dibs first," Roy said.

"Dude, you don't even know what she look like. She could be ugly for all you know," I whisper back.

He pauses for a moment, "If she's hot, she's mine. How about that?"

I roll my eyes. Why do I hang with him? I have no idea.

"So please, make her feel welcome," the teacher said, opening the door, "Come on in."

_Ba-bump!_

My heart jerks towards the door, making me look up in that direction. The person walked in hesitantly and then, stood by the door. She wore a long sleeved black hoodie with white strips going up the sleeves and the sides. She had on blue denim jeans and black and white Converse shoes to complete the outfit. Her hood was up, casting a shadow over her face. Her face was too the ground so I couldn't get a really good look at her face.

"Everybody, this is Rachael Roth," Mrs. Singleton announced.

My heart thumps loud and heavy at the name. But I feel it tugging in the same direction as before. Just as fast as the feeling came it disappeared.

Well, that was odd.

Shrugging the feeling off, I put my attention back on what was going on.

"Rachael, please take a seat next to Gar. Gar, raise your hand."

I raised my hand, weakly, but high enough for it to be seen.

I don't know how she did it without looking up but she made her way over to the empty seat next to mine as the teacher turned to start her lecture for the day. She sat down hesitantly, stiffening a bit.

I wonder why…

My heart tugs at me again towards her direction. I look at her, curious, for some odd reason.

Why is it that I feel like I know her?

***

Oh God, please don't let him recognize me.

Why? Why him? Why this class?

As soon as the teacher told me to sit next to him, I panicked.

Why am I scared of this?

Because, one, I didn't expect this and two, the same reason why I haven't talked to him in years! My father.

From the corner of my eye, I see him looking at me. Please don't recognize me.

"Hey," oh God, no, "I'm Gar. Welcome to Jump City High."

He's still as nice as he has ever been. Making sure he doesn't see my face, I whisper, "Nice to meet you."

He smiled at me before he turns to pay attention to the teacher, seeing that she's yelling at him.

I look ahead and see a brown bald head. A silver metallic hand suddenly reaches back to scratch the naked scalp.

Victor, wow, he has certainly changed a lot since the last time I saw him. He was a bit on the chubby side back then and now, he's quite muscular looking.

Who else is in here?

The blonde bitch I met earlier. What a joy it is to know that I'll be seeing her every day now. I look around and I notice that there is a kid with sunglasses and spiky black hair. He seems familiar…could that be Richard?

I hear an obnoxious snicker come from behind me. I turn my head, casually, to see a strawberry blonde boy that seemed so familiar, laughing. Roy; my old nemesis, he's grown. I turn my head back at the board, realizing that there was no one else that I remembered from all those years ago.

_**Knock!**_

_**Knock!**_

The teacher walked over and opens the door, letting in a fiery red haired Amazon like girl.

"I am so sorry I am late but I had an appointment at the doctors. I have a note of the doctors, here," the girl said.

The teacher took the note and told her to sit down. Scurried over to her sit who I think is Richard.

"So partner up, class. Oh um…Rachael work with…Gar," wait, what?

I hear him sigh, "Okay then, shall we?" he says as he stands up, waiting for me.

I grab my stuff and stood as well. We walk over to the tables and sat down so that we could work.

***

God, this is so annoying! One moment I'm depressed and angry at the world and the next I'm trying to figure this girl out. And I have a girlfriend!

Bipolar, much.

"So ah…" I began, "Where're you from?"

Not even looking up at me, she said, "Here."

Furrowing my brows a little, I said, "You're from here? How long?"

"What does my personal life have to do with our work?" she said still not looking at me.

"Nothing, I guess. But we are partners, so I would want to know who I am working with."

"I'm Rachael. I'm a senior in this school. I read and study a lot. I do my work so I can go to college. And I like to be like to be left alone most of the time. Now you know who you're working with, so I suggest you help me and get to work," she said, venom dripping with every word. But she still didn't look up.

Pretending to ignore everything she had said, I say, "Why don't you look at me?"

I see her freeze almost instantly. I reach my hand over to her hood to pull it down.

_**Rrriinggg!!!**_

She quickly pops up, shut her books, and walks to her desk to get her stuff. No! She's leaving.

I quickly shut my books and went to my desk and grab my stuff. Zipping up my bag, I sped after her, "Hey Rach-!"

"Gar!" my girlfriend, Terra calls.

I stop walking and look over to the right to see Terra walking to me. I look to the left and saw Rachael disappear into the crowd. I sigh and walk over to Terra not all that enthusiastic about it.

As soon as I got to her, Terra over washed me with nonstop babble. Not like a word of any of it actually got to me anyway since I was thinking about that girl. There's something about her. Maybe it's because I don't know what she looks like. Maybe it's…

"So I'll see you later, baby," Terra says, turning to face me.

"See ya," I murmur before I gave her a quick kiss and left to get to class.

French class was a huge blur. Maybe it was because I wasn't putting my mind into it. Maybe it's because I don't understand French, period. But I know that I was too busy thinking about both Rachael and Raven.

That voice sounded oddly familiar. That cold, dark, venom that she spat sounded a little like Raven's harsh words. Maybe…nah. No, it couldn't be. Could it?

I mean, Raven's real name is Rachael Roth and so is Rachael's. Raven likes to read and she somewhat liked to be left alone; so does Rachael. Could it be that…Raven is back? She…returned?

* * *

**A/N: Hello everyone! Guess what? I found my flash drive just as I was about to move onto a new one. Isn't that great? Sorry it took me so long but it took awhile to find and I was busy with a musical but it's done now. Well that's all for now…please review! Peace!**

**Bleeding Writer**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.**

**Chapter 5:**

**Meet the Odd Girls**

**_Rrriinngg!_**

Ugh…finally. This class is over. Global studies is so pointless but it's an easy A. Now what a next? I look down as I pull out my schedule.

_Lunch A._

Oh great, _Lunch_. Out of everything else it has to be lunch. I sigh and continue on my way to the cafeteria.

After finally finding the cafeteria, I sit down at a table and start on my homework. Since I have no money for horrible overpriced dried school cafeteria food.

"Hey you," a feminine voice calls.

I look up to see a pink haired girl with piercing pink eyes, looking at me.

"Come sit with us," she said.

"Excuse me?" I say while I arch my eyebrow.

"You heard me. Come sit with us. You look bored," she said.

"Thanks but no thanks," I said turning back to my homework.

"Okay then," she shrugs, "Hey girls! Over here!"

I look up at her again with a look of disbelief.

She smiles and says, "Don't come over to us, we come over to you."

She sat down without a second thought and was followed by three other girls. One of the girls had scarlet red hair, dark eyes, and pale, almost shiny, skin. Another one had long black hair, a cat like face and long, sharp looking nails. The last one had pinkish red hair and was rather small, height and width wise.

"I'm Jamie," the one with pink hair said.

"This is Arielle," pointing to the one with scarlet red hair.

"Charity," the one with black hair.

"and Kole," the one with pinkish red hair.

They all said, "Hi" to me and smiled in greeting.

I nod in acknowledgement.

"You're name is Rachael, right?" the one that Jamie said was, Charity, asks.

I nod, still curious as to why they decided to sit here.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Rachael. Welcome to Jump City High," she said before going back to her lunch.

"Oh my _goodness_…there he is," Jamie squealed as she clung onto Arielle.

"Oh honestly, Jamie, get a hold of yourself," Arielle said in a British accent.

"I can't help it. He is _so_ hot," Jamie said in a dreamy tone.

Rolling her eyes, Arielle said, "She's talking about Wally West."

She pointed in a direction that made me look over. Standing over by the soda machines was a red-headed, blue eyed guy laughing with a group of guys.

"He's one of the hottest guys in the school," Arielle said, "And Jamie has the biggest crush on him."

"Not only is he hot but he is the team captain of the track team. He is funny and so, _so_ sweet. Those blue eyes of his can make a-," Jamie said, until Charity slapped a hand over her mouth.

"Shut up about him, Jamie," she said, coldly. She removes her hand from Jamie's mouth, revealing the frown that she had. She stared at her for a moment before she turns back to me.

"But Wally isn't the only guy around here who's hot. There's, Richard Grayson. He's the mysterious, karate fighter. But he only has the hots for Kori Anders though. So if you're interested, change your mind. Um…there's Victor Stone. He plays Varsity football. Now he may have metal parts but he is a really nice guy…off the field at least. Next, is Roy the archer. Then, there's Garth the swimmer. And Nathan, the javelin thrower and wrestler. And last but not least…"

"Garfield Mark Logan," they all said.

"He is the nicest out of them all," said Kole.

"He protects all of us when people try to make fun of us," Charity says.

"He sits with us once a month because well, he's like that," Jamie said.

"He is the football (meaning American soccer) star of this school. And he basically has no mercy on the field," Arielle says.

"But he's off limits," Charity sighs, "Shame really. Such a nice guy goin' with such an evil girl."

This caught my attention, "Really? Who?"

"Well look who's interested" Jamie grins, "Anyway, her name's Terra Markov; she's evilest little thing when she's away from Gar and the others. She's very cruel to us. And it's best not to cross paths with her. She has a posse of mindless-evil minions."

Jamie nods her head to a certain table, "You see those girls at that table?"

I turn my head to look at the people sitting at the table she had indicated to. There was a yellow blonde-haired girl, a short black haired girl, and then another black haired girl that looked just like the fiery red Amazon girl in my first period. Each and every one of those girls looked like the bitchy girls from every stereotypical high school movie ever made. And from what I was being told, I'm sure they were. I turn back to Jamie and nod, letting her continue on with my "High School Education".

"That's them. Kitten Moth; who has the hots for Rich since forever. Rouge May; the Russian girl with a bad attitude and the bite to match. And Kori Anders's evil older sister; Amanda Anders. All very evil, mindless, and merciless. With Terra as their leader, they're the worst things that walk these halls. At least, when Gar isn't around. Then, she's a "sweet angel."

Arielle snorts, "Sweet angel, my ass."

The girls nod in agreement. I smirk to myself. This little battle between Terra might actually be fun with some help from these girls.

"Look, the Odd Girls have a new member!" snickered, a feminine voice.

"Look! Kitten got breast surgery again!" Jamie spat back.

The one, I suppose is Kitten, frowns as her eyes flash with anger as she continued on walking. Jamie just smirks as she turns back to her lunch, "Plastic bitch ass whore."

I smirk inwardly. I'm going to like these girls.

I eventually found out that Arielle is actually Italian from Italy but for some reason has a British accent. Charity is a gymnast and has a huge crush on Roy, for reasons unknown. Kole use to go with Victor. And Jamie is a practicing Wiccan who has the 411 on everything and everyone in the school.

They are known as the Odd Girls in school because of their appearances and their habits.

**_Rrriinngg!_**

"Oh Poo. Lunch's over," Arielle starts, "Hey Rach, what class do you have next?"

I pull out my schedule and look down, "Advanced Art class with Mr. Devow."

"Oh cool! You'll be in my class," Jamie said, excitedly, "I absolutely love to draw, paint, and/or sculpt. What about you?"

"I like to paint and draw. Sculpting isn't my forte," I say as I get up. Arielle, Kole, and Charity left for their class because they were on the other side of school. Leaving Jamie and I to talk about art.

Later as the day went on, I ended up having gym class with Kole and Charity. And I had English and Women's history with Arielle.

The bell for the next class rang, Arielle said, "Hey, if you have nothing to do this afternoon you can come and hang out with us. We basically do whatever like go to the mall and window shop or something like that. We meet after school in the courtyard, okay? So if you want to come along, show up."

I nod just before she turns and walks away. I guess this day was more bearable than I thought it was going to be.

* * *

**A/N: Hello everyone. I've updated again and it's a short chapter. I'm sorry about that. As you can see this chapter is all for Rachael because it just wouldn't have worked any other way. Plus I really had to touch bases on these girls. Hey, can anyone guess who they are? Anyway, that's all for now. See you next Monday! Review please! Peace!**

**Bleeding Writer**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.**

**Chapter 6:**

**Together Again**

_**Beep!**_

"_Good morning Jump City! What a lovely Wednesday it is! It's 89 degrees-."_

Shut up, Don Frasciso!

I sigh as I get up, soon hearing my Mom yell at me like she does every morning. Just like every typical day. But unlike every typical day, I have a plan. I have a crucial, important, plan to carry out today; to find out if Rachael Roth is actually _Raven_ Roth from nine years ago.

It's been two weeks since she first appeared and I have yet to see her face. It's been two weeks and she hasn't even looked up at me or anyone. It's been two weeks and she continues to get more and more silent. It's been two weeks, and each day I get more and more certain that she is actually my childhood friend Raven Roth. And today, is the day that I will find out if she is or not.

I nod to no one and get up from my bed to get ready for school.

---

"Hello all," I say as I enter the kitchen.

"Mom, Dad, Monsters," I kiss them as I address them as I usually do.

"Gar, I would really appreciate it if you didn't call me a monster," my Sister, Gloria said.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't call any of them monsters," my Mom said.

"But Mom," I whine, "I always call them monsters. That's my nickname for them. You call them your, "Four Dears." Dad calls them the, "Quads." And I call them, "Monsters." It's how our lives go."

"Well, call them something else," Mom shrugs, "By the way, you need to drive them to school today."

"What?" I ask.

"Dad has a meeting, which he's going to be late for if he doesn't leave now," she said, shooting my Dad a message.

He sighs and folds his newspaper, moving to get ready to go.

"And I have an appointment with my clients on the other side of town. We can really use your help today, Gar," she said as she got up herself.

I sigh and nod my head, "Okay, Mom."

She came over and kissed my cheek before she left, as if to say, "Thank you."

"Okay, _twerps,_" I say, using my new nickname for them, "let's get ready to go and hurry up."

They all frown at me and sat there. I sigh and roll my eyes.

"Hey, you're making me late and yourselves too. Gloria, think of your perfect attendance. Danni, don't you have a test in wood shop? Griffen, think about that girl you like, Julia. Didn't she say she was going to let you walk her to class today? And Phy, aren't you going to be suspended if you're late again?"

Their eyes went wide before they scattered about, trying to clean everything up and get ready to leave. I roll my eyes in amusement.

It's good to be the oldest sometimes.

I walk over to the door and open it, only to have my sisters and brother run through the door and into the car.

Yes, twerps, run like the wind.

---

"Hurry up! Julia's waiting!"

"My attendance record is at stake!"

"I have a test! I can't be late!"

"You're such as a bastard to manipulate us like that. But you better hurry up or else I'll get suspended. And Mom and Dad won't be happy about that."

"Well, if you guys would _shut up_, I can get there faster," I say.

"Bastard," I hear Phy growl.

I roll my eyes.

Immature little nightmares.

I finally, get to their school and drop them off. I look at the clock; _eight forty six!_

"Shit! I'm gonna be late!"

I shift gears and drive to school as fast as I can. I can't afford to be late. Not today.

***

"I'm telling you he's not going to make it," Roy said to Victor.

"And I'm tellin' you, I know my boy. He's gonna make it," Vic replies with a confident smirk.

They were betting on if Gar was going to make it to class on time. Apparently, he had to drop off his siblings at their private high school which is a good distance from the public high school (apparently, Gar requested to go to the public high school, freshmen year).

Most people are saying he's not going to make it because, its eight fifty six and he has to be in school by nine o'clock. It takes about 15 minutes to get to get from the private school to the public. And from what I understand, he left at eight forty six. He also, has to get into the school, get his stuff from his locker and run to the other side of the school. All of that combined should take about 30 minutes; give or take.

"I'm telling you, he's not going to make it. It's impossible," Roy said.

"Well, he thinks of the most impossible things all the time. So close enough," Vic shot back lamely.

"That didn't even make sense, man," Roy counters.

While the two continue on to bicker, I smirk inwardly. It is true that Gar has been known to come up with the most outrageous and irrational ideas. One of the few things that haven't changed about him, apparently.

With that thought ending, I begin to think about how much he has changed over the years. He's taller now and not as scrawny as he once was. Actually, he was well built. His face was still a bit round but it seems like he had grown out of it by a lot. He looks more like his father now rather than his mother. His eyes still have that child like luster to them even though I've barely had a chance to look up at them without him seeing my face.

I snort. It's funny, isn't it? How one would think that seeing the one person that you care about the most in this world would be a happy thing. A good thing. And yet, here I am, sitting next to him every day trying to avoid him as best as I can. And it's all because I'm trying to keep him safe away from my father. Lord knows what he'll do if he finds out that I care deeply for Gar.

Yes, I have feelings for the green being that is, Gar. I have for a while now. I only didn't realize it until I was 15 and I didn't accept it until I was almost 17.

Checking back into the world, I hear, the one they call, Garth say, "He has one minute to make it in here. You sure you don't want to back down?"

Victor grins back before looking back at the door.

"He's not going to make it, Vic," Richard said, who was cheering on for Gar, "I back down. There's no way he can."

Roy and Garth smile, triumphantly, as Richard joins their side.

Looks like Victor might have to pay one hundred and fifty dollars now.

I look up at the clock. 20 seconds to go.

The seconds hand ticked and ticked and ticked, adding onto the suspense. Now there's only ten seconds.

Nine…

Eight…

Seven…

Six…

Five…

Four…

Three…

Two…

Gar ran in, smoothly, quite out breath.

_**Rrriingg!!**_

"Whoa, made it," Gar breaths.

Vic claps his hands, "Ah yeah! You guys thought he wasn't gonna to make it! I told ya, I know my boy! Pay up!"

The three who went against him groaned in defeat and reach in their pockets for their wallets.

Gar straightened up and walked to his desk, saying hi to Terra and kissing her hello.

Gag me.

"Good morning class. Today we're going to…" the teacher began like she did every day.

"Hey Rachael," I hear Gar whisper, "Rachael…psst! _Psst_!"

I'm tempted to look at him and respond but I force myself not too. Just think about trying to keep him safe and nothing else.

I suddenly feel something fall into my lap. I look down at it to see a folded piece of line paper with my name written in his sloppy handwriting. I look at him. He's looking forward at the teacher as if he was paying attention to every word. I open the note, cautiously.

"_Hey Rachael, Im havin a really hard time on this chem. project. Could u help meh? If so, meet me n the auditorium balcony 2day aftr skool. If u dont have a ride or whateva, its kool. I can give u a ride home. _

_Gar_

I look up at him again. He's looking straight at the board but I have an odd feeling that he's watching me from the corner of his eye.

Folding the paper back up, I look at the board once again as questions fill my head.

Is this for real? Does he really need my help? Should I help? Should I show up?

Class went by fast as well as the rest of the day, including lunch and art class. The entire time I was thinking on whether or not I should go. I kept debating this over and over again, questions and questions and more questions to the questions. The questions in my head were multiplying like rabbits. For every two, four came, then, eight, then, 16. It was unbelievable of how many questions I had, to which I had zero answers for, which was something I did not enjoy. Waiting until the last minute of school, did I finally decide on my answer.

_**Rrriingg!!**_

The final bell rings. I see Arielle in the hallway, going towards the courtyard, the opposite direction of where I was heading.

"Hey Rach," Arielle calls, "Where are you going? The courtyard is this way."

"I know but I got meet someone after school this way. So I'll talk to you guys later," I say back.

Arielle didn't question any further as she nodded and waved before turning to leave.

I turn in the direction I was going and walk to the auditorium balcony.

I get to the door and stop. I pull my hood strings a little tighter and try to make it cover my face more. I put my head down, slightly. So that he won't see my face. I, hesitantly, open the door and walk.

"Hello?" I call quietly, as I shut the door, "Gar? Are you here?"

I walk further inside. I look left, I look to the right; no one is here. I slowly take off my book bag and put it in the foldable a chair away to me. I sit down in the aisle seat and pull out my art pad and my chalk from the back pack. I sit for a moment until I feel the inspiration to draw.

"I think you need more green," a masculine voice said from behind me.

***

I hear her gasp as she jumps up and looks at me in shock.

Chuckling, I say, "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"Could've fooled me," she mumbles as she stands up. She put her hands on her hips but still does not make direct eye contact with me, "So what do you need help on?"

I smirk, "I wanted to ask you some things."

"About what?" she asks, sounding a bit annoyed.

"About you," I simply say.

She freezes, "W-what does the project have anything to do with me?"

Thinking fast (surprisingly), I say, "I have a _different _project."

She shook her head as she moves to pack up her things, "Well, I'm not going to help you out with that project in that case."

"Why don't you ever look up at me?" I ask quickly, "Why do you refuse to talk to me when I try to get to know you? Why do you hide away from me?"

"I don't hide. I avoid people. Jackass people like you," she answers, still trying to get everything in her bag.

I step closer to her, "Tell me Rachael, why do you always have your hood up, if you don't hide?

"That's none of your concern. I have reasons of why I do the things the way I do. None of which, shall I explain to you, you spoiled jock-headed boy!" she shouts as she quickly grabs her things and run out the door.

"Oh no, you don't," I mumble. I'm not letting her get away from me, not this time.

I run after her, exiting the auditorium balcony.

"Rachael! Rachael!" I call. She doesn't stop.

I stop running as I turn a corner.

This is the only way.

"Raven!"

I watch her slow down and come to a stop.

"I-I know it's you, Raven. You acted too much like the Raven I knew," I say as I walk slowly to her. She doesn't move, "Look at me Raven, please."

She slowly turns around and brought her hood down, revealing her eyes to me for the first time in nine years.

Those amethyst eyes…

"Hello Gar," she said, timidly.

I stand there and look at her. I've missed her so much and she's here… right in front of me after all these years. But why…?

"Why did you hide from me?"

I want to know about why she left. Why she didn't get in contact with me? But most of all, I want to know why she hid away from me for the two whole weeks she has been here.

" I…I have reasons, okay?"

"No. not okay. Do you know how much I've missed you, Rae? How I felt every year when it came to the anniversary of the day we met and the day you disappeared? And now you're back and you acted like you didn't even know who I was. "I have reasons" is not a good enough answer!"

"Look, it's really complicated. You wouldn't understand, Gar."

"No! What I don't understand, is why you didn't talk to me? Why you acted like I was no one to you?! Why you hid from me knowing that you know me? That's what I don't understand!"

My breath is hard and heavy. Anger boiled my blood underneath my skin. And I felt a vein in my head throb as if it was going to pop.

She looks at me with tears border lining her eyes. She shakes her head and turns away from me, walking away from me once again.

I was the hot pan and the cold water just hit. I sigh as I run after her again, "Rae, Raven. Raven, please stop."

She stops walking and turns to face me, "What?"

Looking for an excuse, I said, "I-I promised to give you a ride offer is still up, you know."

She didn't say anything. She just stares at me.

"I mean, you don't-," I start.

"Fine…you can give me a ride home," she says.

I let out a sigh as walk up to her, "Okay. But first…"

I pull her into a hug. At first she stiffens in my arms but soon relaxes.

***

He lessens his grip on me but he still held on. He looks at me in the face, grinning at me.

"After all these years, you still haven't changed that much," he smiles, "in both looks and personality."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" I ask.

Letting go, he shrugs, "Good."

I nod in response as he begins to walk towards the exit.

"So how have you been?" he asks.

"I've had some ups and downs," more downs than ups, "You?"

He scratches lazily at his jaw, "Alright. Better now that you're back."

I smile softly.

"Ah! I still got it," he cheers.

"Got what?" I ask. He smirks at me, "Got you to smile."  
I roll my eyes at him as we continue walking.

The ride to my house was a slow, mainly because it was rush hour and there was obviously traffic. But we spent the ride catching up with each other.

"So, I hear that you are _the _soccer king."

"Guilty as charged. But how do you-?"

"You know, Jamie Hexington?"

"Ah, her. I should've known. She knows…"

"Almost everything…"

"That happens in the school."

"How she finds out?"

"We'll never know," we said, together.

We look at each other for a moment before we start to laugh (well, he laughs. I let out an airy chuckle).

"I can't believe we still do that!" he laughs.

"After all these years-," I said.

"We still finish each other's sentence!" he said as he finished my sentence.

"We are still so corny," he laughed as he begins to fiddle with something around his neck.

I stop chuckling and stare at the little thing around his neck.

"But maybe…" I heard him say, snapping me out of my trance, "maybe it's because we're still connected."

I look closer at the thing he held in between his fingers. I suck in a breath of air.

My necklace.

Instinctively, I brought out my necklace, where the penny he gave me nine years ago hung.

Looking over a little, he said, "You made it into a necklace?

"Well yeah, it's a lot easier keeping up with it than carrying and holding it," I say back, putting it a way, "I still can't believe you still have that."

"Well, it was my only connection I had to you for nine years. So I kept it. What about you? You kept my penny."

"I kept it because…I didn't want to lose my connection with you," I said back.

With his eyes still on the road, he smiles softly. One of the last looks I remember him giving me. He hear him sigh, "So…where do you live?"

Looking back on the road, "Same house as before. But if you don't mind can you drop me off at the corner."

He makes a weird face as if to say, "Why would you want to do that?" but he just shrugs and starts to pull over.

I murmur a, "Thank you" and start to get the car. I feel someone grab my arm. I turn to see Gar holding unto my arm.

"Raven," he starts as I look at him, "I…I really missed you, you know."

I smile a little, " I know and…I missed you too."

I slowly feel his warm hand loosen its grip on my arm. I hesitantly, look away from him and bring myself from out of his car. I look back just as I'm about to close the door. I notice the little bit of fear in his eyes. I know he's thinking that I might disappear again, never to return. And I don't blame him. To be honest, I fear it myself. But I can't let him know that.

"Don't worry," I say, "I'll be here tomorrow."

After a moment, he finally smiles at me as he turns his head towards the road. I watch him as he drives off, slowly disappearing from my sight.

I let out a sigh as I tilt my head to the sky. After all these years of wondering about him and his well being, we're finally back together.

* * *

**A/N: Happy Monday everybody! I've updated again and it is much longer than last Monday's. But I think it's kinda on the poor side of things. What do you guys think? Anyway, many of you guys were confused on who were the Odd Girls. Well, here's a list for you to keep up:**

**Jamie --- Jinx**

**Arielle ---Argent**

**Charity --- Cheshire (the girl who beat Speedy in "Teen Titans Go.")**

**Kole --- Kole (the girl that can turn into crystals)**

**I just want to make a quick note that Arielle is Italian (born in Italy) with a British accent. So her words will be written in a different way than everyone else. Well, that's all for now… see you next Monday. Please review! Peace!**

**Bleeding Writer**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.**

**Chapter 7:**

**Change Part One**

_A few days later…_

"Hello ladies," I greet, sliding into the red plastic seat, "How are you lovely beauties today?"

"Hello Gar," Jamie said, unaffected by my attempt to charm, "I think we're all doing fine."

It's that time of the month again. The day I sit with the "Odd" girls at lunch. This is something that I do for the girls to let them know that I haven't forgotten them. Also, to find out some juicy details about anyone of my choice that no one else knows about, but these girls.

"So I hear that you guys have a new girl at the table," I say, curiously.

"Yeah we do," Jamie began, "Her name is Rachael. She's very quiet, reserved (almost like Richard), intelligent, and talented. She is an artist (like me) and her favorite thing to draw will have to come down to live portraits or still portraits. Apparently-."

"Jamie!" Arielle spoke up, "I think you're giving up too much info about her while she's away. She is after all, _reserved_. You do know what that means don't you?"

Jamie rolls her eyes, "Of course, I know what it means. But you don't mind when I talk about other people to him."

Unmoved by that, Arielle said, "Because I hate most of those people. I don't hate her, there's a difference."

Interrupting, their little battle, I say, "Where is she, anyway?"

Jamie turns to me and says, "She is in the green room. Working on her art, no doubt."

"_Jamie!"_

"What? It just slipped…"

I roll my eyes at Jamie's need to gossip. I don't know why she's considered an "Odd" girl. She looks like she'll fit in just fine with everyone else.

"Hey I came across this spell last night that's really cool!"

Oh right! That's why. Because she comes from a long line of "witches" (or rather, women who used natural resources to make potions to heal people) and she practices "spells" and put "hexes" on people. If that were true, a lot of people that are in this school would be long gone by now.

"Would you ladies excuse me?" I ask politely, "There's something I have to do."

"Yes, because we have to teach Jamie how to hold tongue," Arielle said, looking at Jamie with stinging eyes.

I get up, leaving the girls to scold Jamie for being a gossip, and head for the green room.

***

_Stroke._

A bit of white here…

_Rub._

This has to spread to fill of the flower.

_Stroke._

I slowly, feel my nerves and muscles relax as I get sucked into my work.

"Raven?"

Suddenly, I feel all my nerves and muscles tense up as I'm pulled out of my work.

"What do you want, Gar?" I ask, bitterly.

I don't mean to be rude but I was in my center just a moment ago so, it was only natural.

"I just came out here to see you," he said, gently, "And to give you some food."

He reaches into his pocket and pulled out a pack of black liquorish.

"Well, it's not really food but I figured," he trailed off, rubbing his hand up against the back of his neck.

"No, no, it's fine," I say, reach for the pack.

I hear him chuckle, "I knew it! You still love black liquorish."

I give him a small smile and took the pack from his hands. I murmured a "thank you" and opened the pack.

"So…what are you drawing?" he asks, chewing the sweet candy in his mouth.

I said, "That flower over there."

"That one? That flower?" he said, pointing at it a bit.

I nod my head, "Something wrong?"

He shook his head before he turns towards it, "No, it's just that…that's the same flower that came out of that out of that bush when we met."

I stop chewing as I look up at him. He looks away from the bush unto me.

Oh goodness, those eyes; those emerald green eyes.

I feel my heart race in my chest. It gets so loud, I can barely hear. I want to say something but my mouth doesn't move and my voice refuses to work. I want him to look away but at the same time, I don't want him to. _I _want to look away but I can't seem to turn my head.

"Funny, isn't it?" he said, finally looking away from me. He starts staring at the flower as if he was concentrating on it.

"You know, you still haven't answered my question," he says.

I blink, "About what?"

"About why you hid. About what happened to you. Basically, everything I asked yesterday," he says.

I'm finally able to turn my head to divert my eyesight, "Oh."

***

She closes her art book as she sighs. She pulls her hair tie out of her hair and slips it on.

"I…I hid because of the reason why I left. And the reason why I left…let's just say it wasn't exactly my choice," she says meekly.

I feel a bit of anger surge through my veins at the words but I keep my cool. If she's still the same Raven that I know, she'll tell me…eventually.

I nod my head, not daring to go into a little fight like we had a few days ago. I push the topic out of my head and lean back into my sit.

"So why aren't you in there sitting with your usual group?" she asks.

Seems like she wants to move on from it too.

I shrug, "I sit with Jamie and them once a month. And right now Arielle is trying to teach Jamie how to keep her mouth shut which, now that I think about it, might not be a good idea."

"What is she; your informer?"  
"Why yes, she is."

"Then, you're right it is a bad thing…for you."

"Yeah it is," I laugh, "Except for when she's talking about all about…"

"Smoking hot Wally West," we said together. We looked at each other and broke out into laughter (well, I laughed).

"Dude, we need to stop doing that," I laugh.

She nods in response trying to stop herself from giggling.

"When did we start doing that again?" I ask.

She lifts her head and says, "Mrs. Freeman's class, beginning of…second grade."

"You remember that?  
"Just as you remember everything else."

"Point taken," I say with a smile, "So…do you wanna hang out tonight?"

"Hang out?" she asks as if it was a foreign language.

"Yeah…see and talk to the old gang. Like play games, eat pizza, you know; the usual stuff that teens do."

"I…I can't…"

"Come on please, Raven."

"Gar, I have things to do, today."

I sigh, "Okay fine. You win. But how 'bout tomorrow?"

"I'm not sure."

"How about-?"

"Gar, I don't know, okay?" she said agitatedly. She grabs her things and stands up, flinging her book bag over her shoulder, "I'm sorry Gar, but," she sighs as if she's thinking about what she should say, "things can't go back to the way they were. I've changed. You've changed. We lead different lives than we used to. I'm sorry, Gar, but that's the cold, harsh truth."

_**Rrriingg! **_

"I've got to go. I'll see you around," she said in a deep monotone voice before she turned and walked away.

I sit on the bench for a little while longer, just musing over everything that just happened.

First, she doesn't tell me why she hid from me. And now she blows up at me for asking if we can hang out after school. She's right; she has changed.

***

"Hey Raven, did you finish your drawing?" Jamie asks as she walks with me to class.

"No," I say as I walk.

"Let me guess. Gar distracted you, didn't he?" Jamie smirks.

"You can say that," I really didn't want to talk. I just wanted to go to art class and get lost in my art. Forget about this mess that I call a life.

"Okay Raven, spill," Jamie says, bluntly.

Making it into the class I put my stuff down and sat on my stool.

"Raven, what's going on?" she asks, now getting concerned.

"I don't want to talk about it," I say coolly, not even looking at her.

I was frustrated. Not at Jamie, not at Gar but that horrible man who sired me. If it wasn't for him, I would be able to hang out with my old friends. I wouldn't have to hide away from everyone I used to know. I wouldn't have to keep the constant secret of my abuse. I wouldn't have left. I would have my mom still.

Mom…

About three weeks after my father ripped me away from my mother, she killed herself.

I sent her many, many letters only to have them all return to my house with a letter stating that the resident no longer lived there and then, getting another letter saying that she had passed. She had died of thirst and hunger, they said. But I believe she had died of a broken heart.

I didn't even get to go to the funeral they held for her.

That's why I refused to contact Gar. I was afraid I was going to get another letter saying that he was gone and never coming back. And I still am afraid that one day, he'll be gone and that's why I push him away from me. So I won't grow attached again. I-I don't want to be ripped out of another person's arms. I don't want to be without him again and go through the pain and the misery all over again. I don't know if I could handle it.

I sigh as I pull out my color pencils.

I wish things weren't the way they were. I wish that I could hang out with him. I wish I can be saved, so I can be free. I wish, I hope, I pray this every day and every night.

But it has yet to come true…

I wish things would just change from the way they are now. I wish for life and I wish for…change.

**A/N: Hello guys! Sorry this chapter was it's a bit later than I said. There was an English project that had to be done. Anyway, here it is. I hope you guys like it. Hopefully, I'll see you next Monday. Well that's all for now...please review! Peace!**

**Bleeding Writer**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.**

**Note: There is some abuse in this chapter. You've been warned.**

**Chapter 8:**

**Home**

Great, I'm back to the nightmare that I am supposed to call home. And to make it even better, the man who I'm supposed to call father is home.

What a joy…

I look at the door and sigh.

Well, there's no way in Hell I'm going into that door.

I walk into the backyard and open the doors that lead to the cellar. I walk down into the cellar closing the doors behind me. I soon make my way to the "elevator." I climb inside and start to pull the rope to go up.

It's amazing that this thing is not falling apart. Also, that I can still fit without getting stuck.

I get to my floor and tie the rope up to its hook. I quietly climb out of it and head for my room. Quietly sighing as I open up to my door, I put down my book bag on the floor and throw myself on my bed face first.

Why must I live this awful life? I can't even go in through the front door of my house!

I lift my head up from my bed when I hear loud footsteps come from the hallway.

Please don't come in here. Please don't let him find me.

_**Knock!**_

_**Knock!**_

"Raven!! Are you in there?!!"I hear him yell. I slowly get up from my bed and walk over to my wardrobe. I open the door and hide myself within it, closing the door quietly.

As soon as they close, my father throws my door open and walks in.

"Raven!" he yells.

My breath is caught in my throat as he walks closer to my hiding spot.

"Raven!" he yells again I hear his footsteps getting louder and louder.

I lean further back to the wardrobe, slowly and quietly. My heart beats loudly within my chest, racing a mile a minute.

Then, the footsteps stop. But that doesn't mean he's gone. I slowly and quietly let out the breath I was holding in relief.

Suddenly, the doors to my wardrobe fly off the hinges, revealing my very pissed off father. My eyes grow wide as his hand went back.

I, instantly, start to climb out of there only to be somewhat push back by this massively large, man.

_Swift…_

_Slap!_

"Think you can just not answer me, huh?!" he growls as he grabs my shoulders, tightly.

I struggle to get away but it's not working.

He raises his hand again and brings it down hard on my face, knocking me down to the ground. As soon as I hit the ground, I get ready to crawl and run away. He brings his hand up again.

I begin to quickly crawl away. Scrambling onto my feet, I start to run while grabbing my book bag.

"Raaaven! Get back here! Don't you run away from me!!" I hear him yell as he chases after me.

I run down stairs onto the second floor, skipping a few steps as I go down . I hear him slam into the wall as he turns to go down the stairs.

Thank goodness, he is not a fast runner.

"Raaven!" he screams.

I don't look back, I just keep going. I run to the front door and grab its handle.

Oh no…all 7 of the locks are locked.

I hear him scramble down the stairs.

I don't have time to unlock all of these.

I quickly run over to the other flight of stairs that lead to the cellar and start going down.

"Raaven! When I get my hands on you…"I hear him threaten. I get downstairs and close the doors, locking it quickly.

That's not going hold him for long.

I look around the room for something that might buy me some time.

Axe…no. Wine…no. Chair…it'll do.

I run over to the chair and quickly pick it up and run it over to the door. I place it on the ground and tilt the chair on its hind legs, leaning it up against the door.

_**Boom!**_

I jump at the noise. Quickly, getting over it, I run towards the other exit, grabbing the chain, lock, and key along the way.

This has become a bit of a routine for me.

I run up the stairs and shut the doors behind me and slipping the chain onto it and locking it. I wait for a moment, seeing if it will hold, before I run away. To where? Not a clue but it's going to be far away from here that's for sure.

***

I walk into my house only to see the second nightmare standing in front of me…who looks really pissed off.

I sigh, "What do you want, Phyfer?"

She just stands there. Her arms are crossed, a frown in place on her lips, and a big, flashing sign that says, "Fuck you, fuck off, and go to Hell," is plastered on her forehead.

"I…want…_revenge!_" she growls.

Placing my book bag on the chair and rolling up my sleeves, I said, "Who? Why? And how?"

"Griffen called Danni a dyke, stole my necklace and gave it to his _god-awful_ girlfriend, and humiliated Gloria. I want _his blood_," she says, menacingly.

"I can't promise blood but I'll see what I can do," I say.

She shrugs, "Just make him turn red."

I shake my head at her need for violence but I walk out of the room and up the stairs.

_**Knock!**_

_**Knock!**_

_**Knock!**_

I knock quickly, before opening his door. He was sitting in his bean bag chair, face glued to the TV screen and controller held lightly in his hands.

"What?" he said, not looking at me.

I close the door as I step in further into the room.

"What?" he asks again.

Oh…are you going to find out what.

"Hey bro, what's up?" I said, stepping closer towards him.

Hey! That's my game that I've been looking for for weeks. That little thief.

"The ceiling; now can you please go?" he said.

"That's not so easy," I say before turning on the lights and pulling the plug of the TV.

"What the-?!" he said, before I grab him up and took him out the room and into the hallway.

I walk up to the door with paper, hot rock flames taped unto it.

"No! No! Not there!" he yelled in fear.

I sigh. Poor little nightmare, even though he is a thief, poor him. Thank God, I wasn't born with three other girls. Oh well, he brought this on himself.

_**Knock!**_

_**Knock!**_

"Who is it?" I hear Phyfer yell.

"Your older brother with the body of the boy you want," I say back.

"Is it alive?" she asks, putting emphasizes on the "it."

"He is," I answer, "I thought you girls would like a hit."

The door swung open to reveal a bloody hungry version (well, a hungrier version) of my sister.

"Gloria is booked in her room for the rest of the night to do damage control and Danni's doing an "angry project" in the basement. But I'll be glad to take the little weasel off your hands," she said looking at Griffen like he was her dinner.

"Gar! Why ya do this to me, man?!" The poor boy struggling in my arms said.

I look down at him, "You hurt your sisters and you stole my game. I'm a bit too tired to deal with you myself. I have to talk to Danni before she makes the entire house an "angry project" again. And I have to do all of this before I have to leave for soccer practice. So I leave you in the arms of Phy here."

I push him into the room, "Have fun. And Phy…if there's bloodshed, clean it please, before mom and dad get home."

She saluted before she shut the door.

"NOOO!!"

Poor guy. Okay, moving on.

I walk downstairs into the basement to see Danni pounding the heck out of something with a hammer.

"Hey Danni," I begin.

"Hi," she said rather sharply before she slammed a nail into the wood.

"Heard about what happened," I say simply, "Wanna talk?"

After a moment or two, Danni slams the hammer down on the counter and paused again.

She suddenly turns to me and says, "Why am I different from everyone? Why can't I be like Gloria who's pretty and everybody loves her? Or Phyfer, who doesn't give a damn about what people think?! Why do I have to be so much like a boy? Why can't I be like Gloria?"

I make my way over to her and wrap in a hug as tears brim her eyes.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with you. You just like different things than the average girl. Instead of miniskirts, it's baggy loose jeans or overalls. Instead of makeup, its oil grease. Instead of the mall, it's our garage, the basement, or Lou's auto garage. And for what it's worth…"

I pull back to get her to look up at me, "I wouldn't want you to be like Gloria or Phyfer. Gloria's too much of a perfectionist; two of her will drive me bonkers. And Phy…don't even get me started. If there was two of her…the world would come to an end."

She chuckles at my humor, "True."

"So why would you want to be like them? You're the only sane one out of the four of you," I say.

"I don't know. Maybe because they're more accepted by other people than I," she says, wiping her eyes.

"One, being accepted is overacted (but I will admit, it does have its perks). Two, how many guy friends do you have?"

"More than a dozen."

"There you go. You're accepted. I know over two dozen girls that would kill to know and hang out with that many guys and be comfortable with them like you are."

"That is true."

"So what if they call you a dyke or something? Just brush them off and know that you get more action than they ever will."

"Okay. But what if Griffen calls me that again?"

"Come get me or Phy and we'll handle it."

"AAAAAH!" a voice screams loudly.

"You see, she's handling him right now," I say, jokingly.

She laughs again, slowly pulling out of my arms, "Thanks Gar. Do you want to help me with my clock for woodshop?" she asks.

She always does that whenever you make her feel better. She allows you to help her with one of her projects. Why? Because any other time, she says, "no," "go away," and to never ask her again.

I shake my head, "Thanks but I'll take a rain check. I have soccer to get ready for. Maybe some other time?"

She nods her head and smiles before she returns back to her project. With a sigh, I turn around, going back up the stairs, into my room, and changing into my sweats.

_**Beep!**_

_**Beep!**_

I grab my things and run down the hall, knocking on Gloria's door to let her know that she's in charge while I'm gone. I run down the stairs and out the door.

I get into the car and shut the door behind me.

"Hey B," Vic greets, "What up?"

"Nothin' much," I shrug, "Just handlin' the sibs."

Rich looks at me, "How? Like emotionally or physically?"

"I handled Danni emotionally. And I was going to handle Griff physically but I gave him to Phy so I can save time," I said.

"AAAAAH!!" someone screams.

Vic, Rich, Wally, Roy, and I cringe at the sound.

Vic shook his head, "Let's hope he's still alive when we get back. What did he do anyway?"

"Stole her necklace and gave it to someone she hates, humiliated Gloria, and called Danni, a dyke," I said.

Vic went silent for a small moment, "I'm gonna stay over your house this weekend and spend time with Danni-Girl."

"I'm surprised that you didn't threaten to kill him," I say.

No one messes with Vic's "Danni-Girl," not even me.

He shrugs as he turns around and starts the car.

"No, Phy will do that _waaay_ before I get to him. Besides I don't want to be too tired for Danni-Girl."

All of us other than Vic start to laugh.

"Dude, I bet one day you will date her," Wally chuckles.

"You might win that bet," Vic says, chuckling a little bit along with us.

"Now I'm gonna have to watch you two," I laugh as Vic drove on, away from my home.

* * *

**A/N: Hello everyone. So it's not exactly a Monday update but I was busy this weekend and at least, it was a Tuesday this time. Anyway, it's a home life chapter just to give you guys what's it's like at home for them and introduce my own characters (Gar's sibs) a little more. I hope you like them as well as this entire chapter. Well that's all for now...see you guys next Monday (hopefully). Please review! Peace!**

**Bleeding Writer**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans.**

**Chapter 9:**

**Change Part Two**

"Hey Raven," I call, "I have a question."

Not look at me, she said, "Well, if it's a good question, I believe you should ask it."

"What's with the hoodie? It's like, mad hot outside and you're wearing a hoodie with the hood up," I said.

Her body freezes as I finish the sentence.

She shook her head, "Because…I-I don't-."

_**Rrriingg! **_

As soon as the bell finished ringing, she packed up her things as fast as she could as she always did, swung her book bag over her shoulder, and turned to leave.

I sigh, reaching for my thing and packing them up. I know it's pointless to go after her when she's in a rush. Plus, I'll see her later on anyway.

"Gar, baby," I hear Terra call.

I turn around to see Terra walking over to me, with Amanda, Kitten, and Rouge behind her. They fall back, waiting for Terra to come back to them.

"Yeah, Terr?" I respond.

"You're coming to my house after, right?" she asks.

"The others are coming still, right?" I ask.

She nods her head, "As usual."

Hmm…Raven doesn't want to show her face to the others while at school, right?

_Bing!_

Dude, light bulb!

"Hey Terra," I begin, "Can I bring a new friend along to the house?"

Terra smiles and shrugs, "Of course, you can, baby."

Yes!

Now all I have to do is get Raven to come along.

Well, I can't very well straight up and ask her. She'll say no in an instant. But I don't want to force her. And I know she'll hurt me for tricking her if she finds out but that's the only way to get her there. Wait, I have an idea.

"Thanks Terr," I smirk.

***

"So Jordan walked in and found them in each other's arms…half naked," Jamie yaps.

I sigh.

Same, old thing every day at lunch. Jamie and Arielle tell Charity, Kole, and I some scandal and gossip that they found out and only them until next week. And then, they have new news to tell by then.

"Hello ladies," a familiar voice said.

I turn my head only to see Gar hovering over our table.

"Oh hey Gar. What are you doing here?" Charity asks.

"I would like to talk to Rachael over here, for a moment. If you don't mind, of course, Rachael."

I stare at him, for a moment, in slight shock.

What does he want from me now? I slowly, nod my head and begin to get up. I exchange looks with Jamie. But she simply shrugged and gave me a look that told me that she had no idea what he wanted me for. I turn back to Gar.

He jerks his head backwards and walks in that direction. I follow not too far behind.

"So what's this about Gar?" I ask after we left the lunch room.

"Are you any good at English?" he asks.

"Yes, I'm in honors. Why?" I ask.

I have a feeling this isn't the true reason why he called me out here.

"Well, I need some help," he began, "I'm close to failing and I can use your help."

I look at him for a moment and sigh, "When?"

He chuckles sheepishly, putting his hand on the back of his neck, "Aaah, how about right after school today?"

"Right after school?!"

"I know, its' short notice-."

"You think?!"

"Please Raven. I really need your help."

"Right after school?"

"Yes."

"Today?"

"Yes, I'll give you a ride if you need it."

"We live right down the street. Why would I need a ride?"

"It's supposed to thunder storm today."

"…Fine."

"So, you'll do it?"

"That's what I said. But I need to be home by 7:30."

"No problem. So I'll uh…meet you in the atrium when the senior bell rings, okay?"

"Okay. And be prepared to work."

"Oh, I will," he said a little too coyly.

***

Yes! I got her right where I want her!

She perks her eyebrow as if she was suspicious of something (and I don't exactly blame her).

"Okay then, but I suggest we go back to the cafeteria before we get caught without a pass."

I nod my head as I begin to turn around.

The guys are going to be in for quite the surprise.

---

_**Rrriingg!!**_

I grab my things and I sprint out the door. I rush down the foreign language wing and speed past the technology wing and into the atrium. I slowly come to a stop and look around. And sure enough, Raven shows up.

"Hey, you made it," I said, while panting.

I'm not gonna lie, those wings are long!

She looked at me, queerly for a moment before saying, "What? Did you run here or something?"

I nod my head, smiling at her a little, "Yeah, a little. Come on, we gotta get out of here before the traffic starts."

She says nothing but walks by my side to my car.

---

"So, uh, hey," I stutter, "I, uh, gotta make a quick stop somewhere before we hit my house. I hope you don't mind," I say.

"Depends on how long," I hear her say.

"About…20 minutes at the most," I estimate.

"You call 20 minutes, quick?"

"Yeah, compared to my _real_ stops."

"And just what do you have to do for so long?"

"Something…"

"And what is this "something"?"

"You'll find out when we get there," I say simply.

"No, I want to know now. I have to be home by 7:30. Not 7:35, not 7:31; 7:30,"she says seriously.

"Damn Raven, you're father certainly has you on a real tight leash, doesn't he?" I say.

"You have no idea," she mutters as she crosses her arms across her chest.

"Look, I promise you'll be in your home by 7:30. And you already know that I don't break my promises. Plus, it's only 4:12; you have a little while to get home. So just chill."

She says nothing as she shifts in her sit.

"…Why do I feel like you're up to something?" she says slowly.

Shit…I forgot she had empathy or something. She was always able to tell that I was up to something.

Okay, okay. Don't panic, Logan. Just stay calm and try to pull off your best lie. This will be hard to do since I am not a good liar. But now not the time for negativity!

"I'm not up to anything."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"…You know what- I don't feel up to it. So let's just pretend I believe you."

Thank God…she's off my back.

---

"Okay, we're here," I say as I turn off the car.

"And just where is "here"?" Raven asks, peering out the window.

I smirk at her, "Come with me and find out."

I open my car door and step out of my car. I see Raven hesitantly, get out of the car.

Yes, it's working!

I walk up to the house with Raven following behind me.

_**Knock!**_

_**Knock!**_

"Who is it?" a snickering voice said from behind the door.

"Gar," I yell back.

"It's open," the voice yells back.

I open the door and step aside, allowing Raven in first.

My dad taught me how to treat a lady and always told me that they go in first. And to be honest, it actually helps me with getting women.

Anyway, I close the door and tell Raven to wait there until I come for her. I walk out of the hallway and around the corner and into Terra's living room. And just like Terra said, everyone that I wanted to be there was there.

"Hey Gar," Vic calls, over his shoulder as he play a video game, "Wanna play "Halo 2"?"

I shake my head, "Not right now. I got-."

"Hey baby," Terra says as she wraps her arms around my neck and pulls me to a kiss.

"Hey Terra," I said in between kisses, "Uh…Terra…babe…I got…something…to say."

She stops kissing me and said, "Well then, what is it?"

"Hey guys! Shut up for a minute, okay?" I shout.

"What is it now, Gar?" Roy says, annoyingly.

Vic punched his arm, "Hey! My boy has somethin' today. Apparently, it's important too. He refused video games _and_ Terra."

Roy shrugs and fell silent.

"Okay. Well, as some of you know, someone very important to Vic, Rich, and I, disappeared nine years ago."

"Are you talking about Raven?" Rich moans, "Gar, come on let her go."

"Would you let me finish? Better yet-," I turn and walk out the room only to face a hooded Raven near the door.

"No," she says as she turns the knob to get out.

"Sorry, wrong answer," I say, as I quickly make my way over to her and pull her back towards me. Just as quick, I get behind her, so that I was between the door and her, "You gotta face them sometime. So why not face 'em now?"

I began to push her gently but effectively forward.

"No, Gar. Gar, no please!" she panics.

I continue on pushing Raven into the living room.

"What is _she_ doing here?" Roy spat when his eyes fell on her. He didn't like her, he said to me a few days before I found out who she was. There was something about her that he didn't like. He just didn't know what or why.

Hehe, it's kinda funny, thinking of it now.

"_She _happens to be the girl that used to beat you up," I answer, while pulling her hood down.

She flinched a little; almost like it pain her to be seen. But she soon froze underneath the eyes of our friends (and not so much _our _friends. More like _my _friends).

I heard Vic, Rich, and Roy gasp as they began to recognize her but from everyone else there were nothing but collected silences. I see Raven curl into herself a little, feeling exposed, I guess. She put her head down and kept her arms close to her body. Instantly, I felt the need to step in and break the ice that had been circling around the very still room.

"So…what do you wanna say to that?" I say, a bit smugly.

Vic is the first one to speak, "Raven?" Wha-uh…wow! I barely recognize you. You've really changed and…_grown._"

Raven playfully 9or at least I think it's playful) rolled her eyes in her head and said, "It's been nine years. Of course, I have. You changed too. You were a little pudgy last time I saw you."

"Yeah, I was, wasn't I?" Vic chuckles, "But I haven't been since I got into middle school. But anyway, it's been-what? Nine years? Nine years, I haven't seen you and no hug? Come here, girl."

He walks over to her and gives her a great, big bear hug.

"And you told me to get over her," I say, a bit smugly as they hug.

"Long time, no see, no talk, Raven. How have you've been?" Rich said, walking towards her.

"I've ups and downs. You?" she said.

"Good," he shrugs.

"I see that you're still mysterious as ever," she comments.

He cracks a smile as he shrugs, "Less so now."

She nods as she turns her head over to Roy, who remained in his spot.

"Stay away from me, demon girl," he says as he ducks his head slightly behind the lounge chair. She rolls her eyes at him as she turns to look at all the others.

"So," I hear Terra say, "you mean to tell me, that she-Rachael- is the person that you've been dwelling over?"

Without blinking, I say, "Yes. What about it?"

She shrugs, "Oh no reason. Just curious."

She smiles and turns her head towards Raven.

***

I look at her and she looks back at me. I could see in her eyes that she hated me even more than what she did before.

"I've got to get going now," I say simply before I quickly turn to leave.

"Hey, Raven!" I heard Gar call but I keep on walking picking up my face, "Raven, wait. Please, wait."

The more he calls the faster I walk. I walk out the door and into the pouring rain.

"Raven! Raven!" he calls as he ran in front of me, "Raven, wait!"

"Why should I?" I spat as I continue on walking passed him.

"Because," he starts, "Vic, Rich, and I deserve to hear from you. To catch up with you."

"Don't you think I can make that decision for myself?" I shot back, "And who are you to force me into such a meeting?"

Running his fingers through his hair he says, "A friend, that's who!"

"Well then, as a _friend _you should learn how to keep your nose out of other people's business," I say back, venom dripping through my words.

"You're taking this _way _out of proportion, Raven," he said.

"No, I'm not," I say.

"Yes, you are," he said back with as much forcefulness as I had.

"No, I'm not, Garfield," I said, turning to him. He pauses upon hearing his real name, "You always think that this is what's best for everyone and you stop at nothing to do it too. But what you think isn't always best, Gar. I had a reason why I avoided you and the others. Did you ever think about that? That there was a purpose to avoiding you guys? Or could you not comprehend that?"

"Why are you acting like, if we see you we will die or something, Raven? Stop making this so dramatic," he says.

"You think I'm doing this to be dramatic? Gar, we haven't seen each other in nine years. You don't know everything about me anymore. I've said it before, I've changed; things have changed. And no matter how much you want it to go back to the way it was, it never will!" I yell.

***

She stares at me with glaring eyes, full of anger, hate, and sadness. She soon turned away from me and stood.

"Trust me, I should know," was the last thing she said before she turned and ran off.

"Rave-!" I tried to call after her but was interrupted by the voice of my girlfriend calling me.

"Gar, come in here! You're gonna catch a cold!"

I look back at Terra and then back in the direction Raven went. She was gone. I sigh and turn back to the house.

Why can't you talk to me, Rae?

---

"Garfield, where have you been?" my mother asks as I walk into the house.

"Where I always am; Terra's," I say not even looking at her, "I'm gonna go to bee. G'night."

I drag myself up to my room and grab my PJ bottoms. I strip off my semi-wet clothing and slip on my bottoms before I flop belly down unto my bed.

Oh, my comfy, comfy warm and dry bed, bring me some comfort with sleep.

_**Knock!**_

_**Knock!**_

So much for that idea.

"Who is it and what do you want?"

"It's Gloria. I sensed your stress since you came home," she said from the other side of the door.

I sigh as I turn onto my back, "Come in."

She opens the door and slowly walks in, "So…you want to talk about it, I see."

I smirk, "If I didn't I would have told you to go away."

She smiles as she closes the door, walking over to me, and sits on the edge of my bed.

"I'm listening."

"It's my friend Raven," I sigh.

"You mean the one that disappeared nine years ago and came back?"

"Yes."

"What about her?"

"Well…look uh, don't tell anyone this but when I was in second grade, I had a bit of a crush on her and as time went on I liked her more and more. I even gave her the Logan's lucky penny."

"Wait-you mean-the lucky penny that grandpa found when he meet grandma. That he passed to Dad, who meet mom the exact same day he got it?"

"And that was passed down to me on the day I met Raven."

"What?"

"Exactly. And on the day I gave her the penny, she disappeared. I never got a chance to tell her.

"Well," she started, "she's here now. Why don't you tell her now?"

"Because," I say, "she's different now. And if I were to tell her…I'd be instantly rejected, I think. That and because of Terra. I can't just up and leave her like that."

"Oh yeah…_her_," Gloria growls. She never liked Terra. None of them did except Mom, Dad, and Griff. She continued, "But putting that aside, I'm guessing you still like Raven."

"If not more. and it seems to grow a little every day."

"Well, I don't know what to say. You got quite a problem."

"It gets worse."

"Worse?"

"Yes, worse. She refuses to hang out with me or the others unless it has something to do with school. She says that a lot of things have changed and they'll never go back to the where it was. That I don't know her anymore. But it's hard to know more about her when she won't talk to me."

"Well, she's right. She has changed if she didn't she wouldn't be in human. And a lot of things have changed and will change, no matter what you do. It'll never go back to what it once was. So stop trying so hard to get it there because it won't."

I pause for a moment, thinking about what she had said.

"What about her not talking to me?" I say after a moment.

"Well, you need to talk to her and give her a reason to talk to you. She'll come around in her own time," she shrugs.

"If you say so."

"That all?"

"I suppose," I shrug.

"Okay then. I'll leave you to sleep. Good night."

"Night and thanks."

She nods with a smile as she gets up. She walks towards my door before turning towards me, "You know, it's sad that you have to take advice from your younger sister," she smiles as she shut the door.

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I'm late (again). Personal life, you know the story (minus a lot of details). . There might be a lot of bad editing but really I just wanted to get this done. Oh, I'm changing the time I update to Sundays. I don't know why though. Moving on, next month will be a bit hectic. I have prom, graduation, and a whole bunch of other things that deals with finishing your last year of high school. So don't expect much but I will try to update as much as I can. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. Well, that's all for now... please review! Peace!**

**Bleeding Writer**

**P.S. Sorry we never find out where Raven went in the last chapter. She just went away.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.**

**Chapter 10:**

**This Christmas Break**

"Hey Raven, what did the egg do when he heard a funny joke?"

Thou shall not kill…

"…"

"Nothing? He cracked up!" he says as he laughs at his own joke, "Get it? Isn't that funny?"

As funny as a wasp stinging your eye, "Not really."

"Oh okay."

He has been bugging me with joke after joke all class week. You would think one would get use to it by now and shrug it off. Except me; I'm fighting the will to kill him. Hard.

"Hey Raven," he calls.

I put down my pencil as if to warn him, "Not another joke, Gar, please."

He shook his head, "I wasn't going to tell another joke. I was going to ask you if you would want to go to the mountains with us during Christmas break."

Perking my brow, I ask, "Who exactly is "us"?"

Victor, Richard, and Kori came up from behind me and said in perfect (not to mention, scary unison), "Us."

"Please, new friend Raven," Kori starts.

It's been three months since they (unfortunately) discovered I who I was. And now every day, Victor, Richard, and Kori talked to me or mingled with me in some sort of way, shape, and/or form. Especially Kori. Even though we may have not known each other from the past, she made quite an effort to try to do the "Girl talk" with me. Kori was extremely friendly and all too bubbly for my taste but I could at least tolerate her. Unlike Terra who tried to _appear _friendly but really wasn't and I didn't tolerate in the slightest bit. Actually, we silently agreed to stay away from Gar when the other was around as best as we could. Gar, who was Captain Oblivious to everything, didn't notice. He just continued to believe that we were getting along ever so nicely. Ha!

"It would be most fun!" she chirps, clapping her hands and smiling brightly like a cartoonish-anime school girl.

"Yeah Raven. And we haven't hung out for a little more than nine years," Richard said.

I cock my eyebrow again, "And it'll only be you guys and me?"

"Well, er, no," Gar stutters, "Roy, Garth, Nathan, Terra, Amanda, and Kitten are coming."

"And from what I heard, so are Bee and Sarah," Vic sighs.

Both Brittany Bumble (or as Vic calls her, "Bee") and Sarah Simms were girls that he dated not too long ago. According to Jamie, He was with Sarah first but then broke up with her because he couldn't handle that she and her family didn't really like Vic being so techno-savvy. Then, he hooked up with Brittany, who chewed him up and spat him out like dirt water. After that, he tried to pursue Jamie herself but she had the hots for Wally and refused him. Finally, he turned to Kole, who broke up with him because they were just two different worlds apart. Now he's single but going after Gar's little sister, Danni. Talk about getting around…

"_Oh_, well, now I know this trip is going to be interesting," Richard said, enthusiastically.

"Oh yeah. Just like it'll be fun having Kitten there," Victor says, mockingly.

I stifle a laugh at Richard's and Kori's facial expressions. Richard's jaw locked and his eyes narrowed while Kori was practically seething so much you can see the blood flush her face. They really didn't like her. Not in the slightest bit.

"What lodge?" I ask.

"White Peak," Gar answers.

I nod as I fill out the answer on my worksheet lying in front of me. I haven't forgotten that I'm in school. "I'll meet you guys up there. I'm going with Jamie and the girls."

There was a glow around Gar constantly and it rarely faded. And it didn't falter when I finished my sentence but it did in fact grow brighter.

"Dude!" he exclaimed, happily, "How sweet is this!?"

"Great and now Kole _and _Jamie are both going to be there too," sarcasm dripping out as the words flowed out of his mouth.

I roll my eyes as I finish my paper and start to pack up my things.

Picking up the joy of the situation, Victor said, "So yeah, you are definitely gonna hang out with us. And eat some serious amount of _smores_!"

"Ah yes, one of the few foods that you and I can agree on, animal killer," Gar commented.

"No good, grass stain," Victor shot back.

"Yay!" Kori cheers, "I am so glad that you will be joining us, friend Raven!"

"Yes," a voice belonging to a blonde-haired, blue-eyed liar of a female slightly hisses, "It'll be _so _much fun to have you there, Raven."

I look over at her as she looks back at me. I get the weird feeling that that she has something up her sleeves. I nod at her, pretending I didn't hear the threat in her voice.

"Dude, this winter's break is gonna be awesome!" said Captain Oblivious himself.

"Yeah! It'll be better than that one summer-," Vic says.

"Where Gar fell out of a tree when he tried to ask me out?" Terra chimes.

Vic turns his head towards her and shook his head, "No. It's the summer where Gar, Raven, and I built a tree house in the woods. I still have pictures of us wrestling in the mud."

I saw Terra's smile fall into a frown, especially when she heard my name.

Oh yeah, this winter break should be _loads of fun._

"Nah. No break, vacation, party, or trip will ever be better than that summer," Gar says, a trickle of a sigh weaving with his words, "But they come pretty close. Especially if Vic makes his infamous gumbo!"

"Oh right! Raven, you are in for a treat. 'Cause you have not _lived _until you've had my gumbo!" Victor says.

"Oh yes! Victor's gumbo is most delicious! Especially, if you add the mustard," Kori cheerfully said.

Richard smiles at her and leans towards me, "Don't try it, unless you want to feel like you're dying for two days straight."

I smile a little as I continue to listen to their rambles about Vic's gumbo and what happened at White Peak last year and so on - at least, until the bell rung.

_**Rrriingg!!**_

"Again, I'm so glad that you are coming to the mountain called, "White Peak," Kori said for the tenth time.

"I know, Kori," I respond as I leave the room.

***

"Dude," I say as I slid into the chair at lunch with my usual table, "I can't believe that Raven is going to White Peak."

"Same here," Roy growls. He's never liked Raven and he was pretty sure that was never going to change.

"So you're saying that the "Odd girls" are going too?" Wally asks.

"Yeah, Raven's coming with them," I say, "Why you ask?"

He shrugs, "No reason really. It's just that Jamie-girl I'm interested in."

That seemed to catch everyone's attention.

"What?" Garth asks.

"What? She seems interesting. A lot different from the other girls I've dated," Says Wally, while eating his ham sandwich.

"She places hexes on people," Roy says, "How could you find that interesting?"

"She's just a Wiccan and does a few spells but not on people. If she did, you wouldn't be here right now," I say, "Besides, you're interested in Charity and she's an "Odd Girl" too."

"She's not really _odd._ I mean, she's a kickass gymnast. How odd can she be?" Roy said.

"She used to have some really weird mood swings and anger management problems and her favorite hobbies are collecting various throwing knives and throwing them at random targets," I say simply. It wasn't that odd to me but it's pretty odd to a lot of other people in the school.

"Well, I like shooting arrows at random targets. So again, not that odd," he shrugs.

"But she's still an "Odd Girl"," Terra adds.

"So? Kole was and still is an "Odd Girl" and I dated her," says Vic.

"Yeah, but the only weird thing about her is her hair and her freakish fascination with crystals," Terra said back.

"But friends, what is so odd about the "Odd Girls"? They seem pretty normal to be," Kori innocently says.

"Nothing," I say, "And I actually know them. Arielle is Italian with a British accent with really red hair. She's just very self-independent and a bit of a feminist. Kole just like to analyze crystals to the very last grain. The weirdest thing about her is her natural pink hair. Charity has a bit of an anger problem and she throws knives in a clearing not far from her house but like you said Roy, she's a kickass gymnast. Jamie is a Wiccan and performs spells to _heal _people. She's more of a medicine woman than a witch. But she knows just about everything that goes on in the school before anyone else does. And Raven… well…she's just really moody. But she's an amazing artist. Nothing is really odd about them."

"Then, why do we call them the "Odd Girls"?" Kori asks.

"Because they were teased a lot at the beginning at high school and they formed a group," Rich says, almost nonchalantly.

"But we were teased as well. But we are not known as odd," Kori pointed out, "I was not known as odd when I moved here from Tameran."

"She has a point. We were teased when we were kids. And now we're the most popular people in school. The main one that uses to tease us the most just happens to our friend," I say while pointing to Roy.

"We got used to you," Roy shrugs, "Plus you scared the Hell out of us when you exploded in the sixth grade."

"Yeah, you should know! But we've known those girls since middle school. And you should be more afraid of them than you should be of me. Jamie can create poisonous that can make sure you die a painful death. Arielle is the daughter of two nuclear scientists and has access to their lab. She could bring something from there and destroy the school with you in it. Charity can kill you where you stand without a single warning. And Kole…" I said, passing the buck off to Vic.

"Can beat you like a piñata and send her poisonous sharp teethed iguanas on you. Trust me- I've seen her do it," he said with a shudder.

"But still-," Roy starts.

"Enough!" Rich says, interrupting the conversation completely, "Wally has the right to like whomever he wants. Just like the rest of us whether they're a little odd or not. There is absolutely no point to this at all. So can we please just shut up about it?"

Everything at the table grew quiet. When Rich lost his cool, everyone listened to him.

After a few moments of silence, I finally said something.

"I still can't believe Raven's going to White Peak the X-mas break," I say.

"SHUT UP!!!"

Heh; had to do it.

**A/N: Hello everyone! I updated on time this time! I'm not sure if I will next week or the week after that. I have last minute things to do for all the senior class events happening in school but I will try. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. It's filler that I need for the next chapter though. Since I'm not sure if I going to be updating for a while, this was a dinky little filler, and this chapter is a bit short, I'm going to give you a little preview. Hope you like it!**

* * *

"_Hey Raven," I call, "over here!"_

_Terra turns her head towards me, "Why are you calling her over here? She's with the "Odd Girls"."_

"_Invited them to dinner and to tomorrow's morning run. Something wrong?" I say to her._

_She maybe my girlfriend but I won't let her diss my friends. She shook her head as she stabs her fork into her food._

_Raven and the other girls came over to us. _

"_Oh Raven! I am most glad that you are dining with us. Along with your friends. What are your names again?" Kori asks, turning to Jamie and them._

_They all answered her just as Vic came up behind them._

"_Alright ya'll, you guys get to try my famous gumbo!" Vic says placing bowls of gumbo in front of them as well as my third bowl of my tofu gumbo._

_Hey, don't judge me! It's really good gumbo._

"_So, how was your Christmas, Raven?" I ask before I dig into my bowl._

_Raven looks up from her bowl and onto me. For a moment, she looks at me as if I had said something offensive. Looking away from me, she said, "Okay. And yours?"_

"_Oh mine was great! I got a new snowboard and some soccer gear. And some video games. After that my family and I ate like there was no tomorrow. Griffen ended up in a food coma about two hours! Phyfer was actually nice. And Danni allowed Gloria to do her makeup and dress her up," I respond._

"_I hope you have a video, picture, or something so that I can see that," Vic says, plainly._

"_I have a video _and _several pictures of it all," I reply._

"_You showin' me when we get back to the room," Vic said excitedly. _

_I chuckle as I look back at Raven._

_She didn't seem happy or even content. If anything, she looked distant and/or saddened. _

"_Raven?" I call. _

_She looks back at me again and stood, "Excuse me."_

_***_

_I turn away from him and walk out the room. My Christmas was no Christmas. Since the year that my mom died, I haven't had a Christmas. My father would get drunk and go out. Only to bring back a whore and fuck her all night. And like this year's Christmas, all day long too._

_I didn't have to presents or a feast or even someone to celebrate it with. I had me, myself, and I. and sometimes I wish I didn't even have _that_. I had to leave the conversation because it saddened me more and more to hear how wonderful other peoples Christmas's were._

_I enter the lobby and sat down on one of the couches in front of the fire place. I look at the fire and watch it dance it's beautiful dance, letting the heat warm and kiss my face._

"_Excuse me, Miss?" a voice says._

_I look up to see a pair of the most beautiful icy, blue eyes, looking back at me.

* * *

_

**A/N2: Hmm? I wonder who that could be. Anyway, I hope you guys like it! That's all for now…please review! Peace!**

**Bleeding Writer**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.**

**Chapter 11:**

**Ski Trip Part One**

"So you've been telling me that Wally West, _the _Wally West, is going to be at White Peak Ski Lodge?" Jamie asked again.

I roll my eyes and groan, "Yes, Jamie. For the umpteenth time, yes, he is going to be there. And yes, I'm absolutely sure."

Since the moment we got into the car, which was around 8:40, she has asked that question at least five times each hour. And we have been in this car for seven hours straight. Do the math.

"Arielle, please tell me we're almost there," Charity says, almost pleadingly.

"We'll be there in about 12 minutes," she answers through her teeth.

Kole growls, "Well, could you hurry it up? I swear if Jamie asks that question again, I'll throttle her in this car."

"Hey, I can hear you!"

"Yeah, well, good!"

"Yeah, she needs to

"Oh, will you all please shut it?!" Arielle yelled, causing everyone to silence, "If you guys make us crash and die, I'll throttle you all in the afterlife! Now please, shut up!"

She huffed and shook her head in anger, cursing them slightly.

All was silent in the car, everyone unsure of what to say. That is until…

"Are you sure he's going to be there?"

"That's it!" Charity yells, before reaching over me to get to Jamie.

Just as quickly as the car went silent, it got loud again us girls bickering back and forth at each other.

"Hey, get off of me!" I yell over them.

"Jamie, swear on my life, you need to shut up," Kole adds.

"Stay outta this, Kole! You're just mad about the entire Vic thing."

"What?!"

"I'm gonna kill you, you pink headed little bi-!"Charity says as she continues to reach for Jamie's throat.

"Can you not do it while I'm in between you guys?"

"Hey, don't get blood on my seats. This isn't leather you know!" Arielle says, still looking hard on the road

Kole gasps, "Oh my god, the car is shaking. The car is shaking! Stop it, you guys! Seriously!"

"I will, if she would just hold still."

"Oh right, like I'm going to just let you kill me. Way to be smart, Charity case."

"Oh, I'll give you a Charity case!"

"Hey, you guys are moving the car!"

"If we crash and burn, I swear to goodness, I'll kick your asses all over the afterlife!"

"Just as long as I get to kick Jamie's ass!"

"Bring it on, little miss wannabe-ninja!"

"Why you…!"

"That is ENOUGH!" I yell over them all, causing them all to stop once again and grow quiet. I push Charity off of me and sit back in my seat. I take a moment to calm down before I say, "Now, we have less than ten minutes in this car together. Let's just ride without any talking, okay? Can we try that?"

Everyone silently nods and sits back into their seats.

Ah, finally, peace.

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"JAMIE!"

Ugh…

***

"Woo! That was a nice run," I say as we walk back into the lodge. We had left for the mountains the day before and we've been going down the hills all day.

"Yeah, but tomorrow, we're racin'," Vic says with a smirk.

"You know it," I laugh as I gave Vic some dap, "So do you think Raven's here yet?"

"Man, you stay trippin' on her. You are obsessed," Vic says as he began to walk further into the lodge.

"I am not obsessed," I say, rolling my eyes, "I'm just excited about the fact she's going to be hanging out with us," I say, following him.

"I can understand that but you have been asking that question since this mornin'," he said.

"Whatever, dude. I just want to-," I trail off.

_**Ba-bump!**_

I feel my hear tug at me. I turn my head towards the doors and I see Raven walking through the door with bags in hand.

She wore a black hat that brought out the color of her hair brilliantly. To match her hat she wore a black turtle neck that folded over with a white stripe going across her stomach with some dark fade-out jeans. Her cheeks and her nose were pinkish-red, highlighting her pale white skin.

Actually, she looks kinda cute like that.

""Want to," what, Gar?" a voice said, bringing me out of my daze.

"Huh?" I say, looking away from Raven.

"What were you saying?" Vic asks with what seems to be an amused smile.

I shake my head and say, "Never mind. Just forget it."

Putting my attention back on Raven, I walk towards her, hearing Vic chuckle behind me as I walk.

Jerk…

***

_**Ba-bump!**_

"Need some help?" a familiar voice say.

I look up to see Gar's smiling face looking back at me. I start to smile for a split second but then I frown and say, "Not really."

He smirks, "Well too bad."

He grabs the handles of two the bags that I'm carrying and try to take them away from me. I pulled back trying to get him to let go but he just held on tighter. He scrunched his nose playfully and then pulled back, causing me to let go of the bags. I reach for them but he just steps back.

"Ah-ah-ah," he says, teasingly.

I roll my eyes, "Stubborn jackass."

He snorts, "Look who's talking."

I lift my eyebrow at him, "Excuse me?"

He's going to backtrack in three…two…

"I mean- you are just stubborn. Really stubborn. I mean- not so stubborn where it's annoying although there are times where you are. But I don't mind it because um…"

I roll my eyes again, "You are so predictable."

He looks up at me and grins. In an instant, a warm feeling passes through me followed by a cold one that made little goose bumps appear on my skin.

"Raven!" I hear someone else call. I look away from Gar and onto Victor, "Finally, you're here. 'Bout time too. Gar has been- Mmhmm!"

Gar drops my bag and quickly slaps his hand across Victor's mouth and gave me a very fake smile.

"Would you excuse us for a moment?" Gar asks.

Before I could even try to answer he turns his back and brings Victor with him. I watch Gar murmur something to Victor in an urgent and slightly annoyed way. Victor just shakes his head and chuckles at him before walking into the hall. He turns back to me and picks up my bag again.

"So let's get you checked in, shall we?" he says with a meek smile.

I open my mouth to question what that was about but I decide to do otherwise. Perhaps I don't want to know.

We walk up to the front desk and I check myself in.

"So ah," he starts while we wait for my key, "where's Jamie and them?"

"Uh…Arielle and Charity are in here already…somewhere. Kole and Jamie are back at the car getting their things, last time I checked," I answer.

He nods his head, "That's cool. How was the ride up?"

"Ugh, don't ask."

He chuckles, "That bad, huh?"

"Jamie would not stop asking about Wally the entire time up here. We just had this huge fight in the car between Charity and Jamie. And I was caught in between the two. Literally."

He sucked in his breath through his teeth in a hiss, "Oooh. That _is _bad."

"Tell me about it," I mutter as the key is handed to me.

Room 277…

I clutch my key in my hand and head in the direction of my room. With Gar following behind, of course.

"Hey Raven," I hear him call, "I was wondering if you would like to go on a quick run with us down the mountain tomorrow."

Glancing back for a second, I say, "And who, exactly, is "us"?"

"Oh, you know, Vic, Rich, Kori, and 'em," he says.

"What about Terra?" I ask knowing the answer.

"You know, she's going to be there," he says, "That one's a given."

"And her posse as well?"

"Other than me and Vic and the others?"

I turn back to look at him as if to say, "What do you think?"

He sighs, "Yeah."

I snort at him as I turn back around and keep on walking.

"But that shouldn't stop you from hanging out with us? Hey, you and even bring Jamie and the other girls," he reasons.

"I don't think so Gar," I say as I look up at the doors.

"Oh come on, Rae," he pleads, "It'll be fun."

"Don't care," I say.

281…

279…

"…277, this is me," I say, pulling out my key.

Coming up beside me, he said, "You said you'd hang out with us."

Turning my key and pushing the door in, I say, "I said no such thing. I said that I'll meet you up at White Peak. I didn't say that I'll be hanging out with you. Thank you, Gar, but I can carry my bags from here."

I grab my bags from his hands and start to walk into my room.

"Please Rae," he says, "It'll mean a lot to me if you come."

I put down my bags and I look up into his emerald green pleading eyes.

Oh his eyes…

"Please Rae," he says again.

I press my lips together and look away from him. I sigh.

I'm going to regret this later.

"When and where?"

I don't even have to look to see his face brighten with joy, "8:30 in the morning. In the lobby."

I nod, "I'll be there. And I'll pass the note to the other girls too. But I'm not sure if they will all join in though."

"Yeah, I know," he says, meekly, "But you'll be there, right?"

I sigh loudly, "Yes, Gar, I will be there."

"Okay," he grins, "I'll see you later."

Giving him a small wave, I begin to shut the door.

"Oh wait!" I hear as well as a loud thud. I look down and see Gar's foot blocking me from closing the door.

I open the door back up again, "What?"

"After you get settled in, do you want to join me and the others for dinner in the cafeteria?"

I roll my eyes again and shake my head, "Yes sure."

"And this invitation goes to Jamie and the other girls too."

"I'll be sure to pass it along," I mutter, "May I start unpacking now?"

He smirks at me and says, "Yeah, I guess."

He takes his foot out the door and begins to walk away, waving at me, "See you later, Rae."

"Fair the well," I say, shutting the door, "Finally."

I take all of five steps into the room when I hear a knock at the door. I turn back towards the door and stare at it in defiance. Honestly, could he leave me alone for a minute?

"What do you want?!" I say to the door.

"I want into my own room," I hear a voice that didn't belong to Gar say, "Could ya possibly help me out and open the frickin' door?"

I walk over to the door and open it to see a winded Jamie.

"Sheesh, I know everyone's mad at me for the entire Wally thing in the car but did you have to be so rude?" she muttered.

"Sorry, I thought you were someone else," I say back.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, just help me with these, will ya?" she said, handing her bag to me before I can even answer.

Instantly, Jamie picks out her side of the room and begins unpacking as she gets there.

"So," she starts as she unzips her bag, "What did Mr. Green himself want?"

I shrug, "He wanted to invite us to a run down the mountain tomorrow and to dinner tonight."

She snorts, ""Us" as in you, right?"

"No," I say, ""Us" as in you, Charity, Kole, Arielle, and I?"

"Is Terra and her horde of mindless minions going to be there?"

I give her a look.

"Then, he was just inviting you," she laughs.

I walk over to her and sit on her bed, helping her with her clothes.

"Please, I already agreed to go to both," I say, "Don't leave me alone with them."

Jamie shakes her head, "Nope. Not doing it. I don't even know why you decided to go in the first place."

"Okay," I say, getting up from her bed and walking over to my own, "I guess I'll just have to deal with Gar and Vic and Wally and them all by myself."

3…2…1…

"You know, on second thought…"

I smirk. Boy am I good.

***

"Hey Raven!" I call, "Over here!"

From the corner of my eye I see Terra turn her head towards me.

"Why are you calling her over?" she scoffs, "She's with the "Odd Girls." Let her be with the "Odd Girls"."

I frown at her, "I invited them to dinner with us and tomorrow's morning run."

"Why?" she murmurs.

I shrug, "Because they are my friends and I wanna hang out with them."

She opens her mouth to say something but she just closes it again and frowns. She scowls and shakes her head, disapprovingly. I just simply sigh and shake my head.

She may be my girlfriend but boy, do I hate it when she disses my friends.

I look back up to see Raven and the other girls join our table. Before I can even say anything to them, Kori gets to them.

"Oh hello Raven! I am so glad you are dining with us. Along with your friends. Uh…what are your all of your names again?" she chirps warmly.

The girls give a small awkward smile as they re-introduce themselves to her, not exactly use to someone being so warm and chipper towards them. I watch the others slowly look at each other, unsure of what to do or say. I look over at Jamie and Wally and, in an instant, I see sparks flying between them. I smile and shake my head at the two. A match made in heaven, those two. I look over at Raven and see her watching the same thing. She looks up at me and our eyes meet. I flash a smile at her, hoping to receive one back. But she just stares at me for a moment before turning head back to Kori who began to talk her ear off.

In a matter of minutes, Vic comes in with a pushing cart and a giant bowl of gumbo.

"Alright ya'll, I hope you guys have empty stomachs because you're going to want more than one serving," he says proudly.

"Do you have my meatless gumbo?" I ask.

He rolls his eyes, "Yeah, I have your nasty version of your gumbo. With the soy and the nasty…"

"You don't know what you're missing, Vic," I say as he hands me my bowl.

"I know what I'm not missing; meat," He says.

Oh here we go, "How could you eat an innocent animal? An innocent life, dude?"

"Simple, I just can," he said, "Who else can eat an innocent life here?"

Everyone raised their hands.

"Dudes!" I say, "So not cool!"

"Sorry Gar," Vic says, "Not everyone wants to be a granola head like you. Now who wants meat again?"

Jerk…

After we all get our gumbo, everything starts falling into place. The awkwardness started fading away and the ice began to melt. I saw Charity and Roy starting to talk a little. Jamie and Wally were really starting to flirt. Kole was even getting into with Nathan.

"So Raven, how was your Christmas?" I ask, getting another spoonful of gumbo.

Raven looks up from her bowl and onto me. She looks at me as if I had said something, I don't know, offensive?

Looking back at her bowl, she says, "It was okay. Interesting. How about yours?"

"Oh mine was great! I got a new snowboard and some new state-of-the-art soccer gear. And some new video games! But after all of that, my family and I ate like there was no tomorrow. Griffen ended up in a food coma for about 10 hours! Phyfer was actually nice (which was surprising). And Danni allowed Gloria to do her makeup and dress her up," I answer.

"I hope you have a video, picture, or something so that I can see that," Vic says, plainly.

"I have a video and several pictures of it all," I reply.

"Oooh, You showin' me when we get back to the room," Vic said, excitedly.

I chuckle at him as I look back at Raven. She didn't seem happy or even content. If anything, she looked distant or maybe even…sad.

"Raven?" I call.

She looks back at me again and stood, "Excuse me."

***

I turn away from him and walk out the room. My Christmas was no Christmas. Since the year that my mom died, I haven't had a Christmas. My father would get drunk and go out the night before only to bring back a whore and fuck her all night. And like this year's Christmas, all day too. I didn't have presents or a feast or even someone to celebrate it with. I had me, myself, and I. And honestly, I wish I didn't even have that just so I could escape those unsettling sounds coming from his bedroom. I just...I had to leave the conversation because it just hurt me more and more to hear how wonderful other peoples Christmas's were.

I enter the lobby and sat down on one of the couches in front of the fire place. I look at the fire and watch it dance it's beautiful dance, letting the heat warm and kiss my face.

"Excuse me, Miss?" a voice says.

I look up to see a pair of the most beautiful icy, blue eyes, looking back at me.

"May I sit with you?" he said.

Take the appearance of the man, quickly. His skin was pale and his hair was light, almost white. His face was one of the most handsome faces I had ever seen. He was tall and a little lanky but he could pull it off. In fact, he was quite…attractive.

"Yes, if you wish," I say, stupidly.

"Thank you, Miss…?" he drags.

"Oh Raven. My name is Raven," Could I possibly sound more generic?

"Nice to meet you, Raven. I'm Malcolm. But you may call me, Mal, for short," he says graciously, in a smooth Russian accent. He sticks his hand out.

I stick out my own hand only for him to pull me closer to him and kisses me three times on the cheeks. I feel the blood rush to my cheeks instantly.

"Sorry about that," he says, "It's the way we greet back home in Russia."

I shake my head, "Oh, it's okay."

I slowly look up and in his arms, I see him holding a book titled, "Spellbound" by David Slack.

"You read David Slack?" I say as he sits next to me.

He glances at the book in his hands and smiles, "Why yes. Do you know him?"

"I think he's a literary genius. His characters, his plots, his choices of dialogue, and fine detail just astound me," I say, "He's definitely one of my favorite authors of the modern world."

"Well, I should say so," he says, his pearly white teeth peaking from behind his lips. I breathe in a shaky breath at the sight. "He is one of my favorites too," he says, "Don't mind me asking but I'm curious as to why a young lady, such as yourself, would be doing here all alone? Waiting on her boyfriend, perhaps?"

I chuckle slightly, "No. I don't have a boyfriend."

He looks at me in disbelief, "What? A lady as beautiful as you doesn't have a boyfriend? I can hardly believe you. What man in their right mind would not want to date you?"

I let out another airy laugh, "Oh that's sweet of you to say but please don't flatter me."

"I'm not flattering you. Flatters end up in the eighth gate of Hell in excrement, so I'm certainly not a flatterer."

I laugh. Dante's inferno…good choice.

"I'm telling you the truth. You are beautiful and you are even more beautiful when you smile."

I stop laughing and I look up into his gorgeous blue eyes. I find myself smiling even wider at him.

What is happening to me?

***

So…

A few minutes after Raven left the table, I decided to follow her to see if she was alright and I walk into this.

Some…guy…flirting with Raven and she's actually smiling and laughing with him!

She's giving him my smile! My laugh! A smile and a laugh that I work for just about every day!

I hands clench into fists as the blood rushes through my veins in anger. I open my mouth to say some but someone's hand comes over my mouth making my words turn into mumbled gibberish.

"Boy, boy, crazy boy, stay cool boy," I hear Jamie's voice whisper into my ear, "I wouldn't do that if I was you."

She let's go of my mouth and turned me around. She pressed her lips together and raised a finger, beckoning me to follow her. She turns around and walks away. I glance back at the two and scowl again. He made her laugh again. I walk further into the hall to where Jamie was waiting for me.

"What is you deal?" Jamie said, her arms folded across her chest.

"Nothing," I lie, "I just wanted to talk to Raven."

Jamie blinks, "You're lying. One, I can see it in your eyes. Two, your waves are telling me otherwise. And three, I saw you ball up your fist when you saw them. Therefore, you _do _have some sort of issue."

Shit.

"And I also, know you like Raven," she finishes.

Double shit.

"A-as a friend, yeah," I say, nervously, "Nothing more."

Rolling her eyes, "Lying again! You like so much more than just a friend and you have for quite some time. If you didn't like her, you wouldn't be this obsessed over her."

Now it's my turn to roll my eyes, "I'm not obsessed."

She shrugs, "Well, you're close enough. Look, you don't have to worry, Mr. Green. I won't tell anyone about your burning torch for Miss Peacock over there. You have my word as a Wiccan."

I sigh in relief, "Thank you, Jamie."

"But…"

"But? No, there shouldn't be a "but". Why is there a "but"?"

"You have to tell her before we graduate. If you don't then, I will. Understand me?"

I sigh and nod. Great, now I have a time limit on my confession. I look back up at Jamie and I see her shift her weight from one leg to the other.

"Do you want to spy on them some more?" she asks, casually.

I smirk, "Aren't my waves telling you that?"

She glares playfully and me as we head for the lobby. We peer in from around the corner, leaning our heads closer towards them.

They were still sitting there; just talking. And laughing…

"Let's get closer so we can hear them better," Jamie says.

I nod as we maneuver our way over there without being seen. We duck behind the furniture and crawl behind the couch next to them.

"So what are you planning to major in?" I hear him ask in a weird accent.

Damn…he's a European...

"Visual arts," she says, "And you?"

"Ancient literature," he answers, "And your minor?"

"Art history or women's history. I haven't decided," she says.

"English lit."

"Even though you're Russian?"

"I've always have had an interest for the English language for as long as I can remember," he said, "It's my language of choice. Other than my own, of course."

"So I'm pictures and you are words," she remarks.

"We balance out perfectly, don't you think?" he says.

They chuckle again at the small lame joke.

It's not that funny.

"Oh, dear…" he trails as he finishes laughing, "Oh my, look at the time, I've got to be going. I hope I do get the pleasure of meeting you again, Raven."

Ugh! This guy makes me sick!

"I hope so too," she says back in a slightly weak voice.

I can't believe what I'm hearing!

"Maybe we can meet again. Maybe in the cafeteria at eight o'clock tomorrow morning?" he asks.

"Are you…asking me out?" she says.

I feel my hands turn into tight fists again as I struggle to not jump from behind this couch and scare this European punk away.

"Yes, in a way, I am," he says.

I move to get up but Jamie hands grab me and pulls me down. I look at her as if to tell her to let me go. But she just shakes her head at me and tells me to keep listening.

"Think of it as…how do you say…? Hanging out with a friend, perhaps? If that would make you more comfortable," he says.

Say no, Rae. Please say no. Say no to him like you say no to drugs!

"Yes…that'll be fine," she says shyly.

Wait…what? Please tell me she did not just agree to see him tomorrow.

"Okay then…I'll see you tomorrow morning then. Until then,"

I hear a kissing noise…wait what was that?

He says something in Russian to her before I hear his feet walk away from her and slowly disappear.

I hear Raven sigh, "What…was that?"

My words exactly.

"…Jamie. I got to talk to Jamie."

From the corner of my eye, I see Jamie's eyes get as big as saucers. She turns towards me and starts to hit my arm as if to say, "Move!"

"Would you stop hitting me?" I lip.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get going already and hurry," she lips back.

I start to crawl as fast as I can to the front door heading out into the cold. We quickly climb to our feet as I say, "Come on, we can beat her to the cafeteria if we run!"

Pushing pass people and jumping over snow mounds, we finally make it into the cafeteria.

"She here?" Jamie asks, shallowly.

"Nah," I breathe, "I don't think so. Okay, act casual. She should be here soon."

We quickly walk over to our table and sit down with everyone.

"Act like we never left," I say to everyone as seriously as I can.

They all look around at each other and shrug before going back into their conversations, not really questioning it. A few moments later, Raven walks into the room and sits right next to Jamie, whispering something in her ear. Jamie grabs Raven hand and walks away out of the room.

I frown.

I gotta get that guy away from Raven. But how?

* * *

**A/N: But how indeed. Hello my lovelies! I'm so sorry for being so late! I tried not to be. Actually, I tried finishing this a month ago but my flash drive got wiped clean! And what I mean is, that my computer froze on me, shut down, and wiped everything that I had saved on it from the face of the earth! Everything! So yeah…I had a bit of a down period and it took me awhile to finally be able to type this up because I had felt like a huge chunk of my brain was lost (even though I have the written copy of "Lucky Charms," I don't have anything else written). Anyway, I'm done with high school, officially! I graduated from my high school and I am now in summer mode. So get ready for some updates ("The Deal" will take awhile though)! I hope you guys like this chapter, as you already know it took me awhile, and I put a lot of work into it to make up for the fact it took so long. Well that's all for now…please review! Peace!**

**Bleeding Writer**

**P.S. I'll be on a trip this following week. I'll try to update but…you know me. I promise, it won't be as long as this one though. Oh, and does anyone know those two references Jamie made (Hint: One is from a game. The other one is from a famous musical)?**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.**

**Chapter 12:**

**Ski Trip Part Two**

_**Bzzt! Bzzt!**_

I groan as my cell phone vibrates against my nightstand, alerting me to wake up. Slowly raising my arm, I grab my cell phone and opened it and shut it. I slowly lift up from my bed, propping myself up on my elbows. I ran my fingers through my hair, finding knots along the way. I sat for a moment and thought of what I needed to do that day. There was something for me to do. It's buzzing in the back of my head. Damn it, what is it?

Oh wait, Mal. I said that I would meet him at eight.

I get up from my bed and head for my bathroom, starting my usual morning routine. Unlike my usual routine however, I stop and look at myself in the mirror. I frown instantly and look away.

No matter what I do I look disgusting.

I look at my watch; 7:48. Great timing. I walk out the bathroom and out the door without waking up my snoring pink-headed roommate. I walk down the hall and into the cafeteria to see Mal, straightening the table cloth.

His long pale blonde hair was pulled back into a pony tail with a silky black ribbon with two shorter parts hanging loosely from the rest. He wore a pale tan jacket, a light blue, maybe gray, dress shirt, and dark blue denim jeans. He looked like an angel from the heavens above.

I look down on myself again. Ugh…

I grab my arm, awkwardly and rub it. With a sigh, I walk further into the room. Mal turns quickly and notices me. He smiles at me, "Oh, good morning, Raven. You are looking fantastic this morning." He comes up to me and kisses me on both cheeks three times (a Russian greeting). "Please, sit."

He pulls out my chair for me and waits patiently as I take my seat. I can't help the smile that seems to have crept on my face.

"I hope you're hungry," he says as he moves into his seat.

About five minutes in the date, if you want to call it that (I do), we are talking and laughing with each other. Gosh, he is so charming. And sweet. And debonair…

Wait a minute, pause. Let's analyze this…situation. This guy is smooth yet down to earth. Classy but not showy. Intelligent, confident, and a gentleman but humble and sweet. All of this, and he's still single and not gay. What is wrong with this picture?

As if reading my thoughts, he said, "I bet you're wondering, how a guy like me does _not _have a girlfriend? Right?"

"N-no, no, no…no. okay yes, it has come across my mind," I spill.

He smirks, "I get that a lot from a lot of people. Girls and guys. But to answer you're unasked question, I don't have a girlfriend because not a lot of girls are truly interested in _me. _I mean, they like my looks and chivalrous ways but not me."

"Well," I shrug, "isn't your chivalrous ways a part of you?"

He nods, "Yes, but it's not just that. I…I am into words and literature. I like books and culture. Art and poetry and history. For crying out loud, I like going to the library better than going to the football game and I'd rather read a book alone than go skiing with my friends."

I instantly thought of myself when he said that. I would do the same as he, if I wasn't constantly pressured into it by both Gar…and Jamie.

"I'm a classic type of guy. I treat women with the respect that they so rightfully deserve. Instead of "spitting game" at them or hitting on them, I choose to talk to them like human beings and get to know them because I'm interested into who they are as a person. And I don't only just hear. I _listen_ to what they say and then, I think about it for a moment and _respond. _I don't look at her lips when she's talking or think about what she looks like naked. I look her dead in the eyes and talk to her like the lady that she is. Just like I am doing to you now."

He wasn't lying. His eyes were perfectly lined with mine making me feel exposed in front of him. I gotta say, it's a tad bit uncomfortable.

"And most girls find it very unusual because all they've ever known is…for lack of better words, asshole guys," I can kinda see why, "And they don't really accept the way I act. And that's why I don't have a girlfriend. That and a lot of women are not really my type."

I nod as a thought came into my mind. Curiously, I leaned closer to him and said, "So what is your type?"

He gives me this smirk and a sideways gaze. In an instant, I feel this fire pass through my veins.

"I like a smart woman, who won't dumb herself down for anything or _anyone._ Someone who is kind but is not a doormat. A woman who is beautiful inside and out."

His words…

His words were soft but firm just like his icy blue eyes. His words just seem to cut through me until it reaches the vulnerable mushy part of me. I feel the blood rush to my cheeks and a nervous smile crept on my lips. I lower my head down to hide my face.

"A woman," Mal pauses for, I suppose, dramatic effect, "like you, Raven."

I look up at him, for a moment. Until I'm ashamed of his gaze again. I look away and find some sort of interest in the wall paper.

"How can you say that?" I say with a nervous smile, "You've only known me for less than 24 hours. You don't know who I am."

"True…then, I guess I have to get to know you more," he says, "Please look at me."

I don't want to but my eyes lock onto his soft ones. I bite my lip as those feelings of attraction consume me. Butterflies in the stomach, head rush, clammy hands- I've got it all.

I feel this weird feeling over come me. Like a familiar presence of some sort. I look away from Mal.

Oh no, what is he doing here?

***

I grab a seat and sit at their table. I flash Raven a smile and then, glance at the guy preying on her like a…well, like a predator.

Jerk.

"Hey Raven," I say, turning back to her, "How's it going?"

I try to ignore her fingers curling in to a tight fist.

"Just fine, Gar," she says through gritted teeth.

I nod at her before turning back to the bastard, I stick my hand out, "Gar Logan. Raven's best friend. And you are?"

He looks at me for a minute. He looks at Raven. Then, back to me before he sticks out his hand, "Malcolm Drache."

Without skipping a beat, I grab his hand in a tight thunder grip and shake it, harshly.

Ha! -he flinched.

"So," I say as I turn back to Raven, "How has your day been so far?"

"Just fine," she says quickly, "Actually, I was talking to Mal here before you-."

Interrupting her, I say, "Hey _Malchoir_, Raven has told me so much about you. But I'm curious. Have you ever had a girlfriend before?"

"Yes," he says, "My name is-."

"How many?"

"Er…uh, five. What-?"

"Have you had sex?"

"What-? No!"

"Want to have sex with Raven?"

"Gar!" Raven hisses, snappily.

"What?" I say with a shrug, "I'm just trying to get to know Malik- was it? -here."

"It's Malcolm, Gar. And I need to talk to you for a moment. Alone," she said.

Oh no. It's "The Tone." I feel panic wreck my body, knowing of what was to come. Alright, Gar. You can do this. You can do this. Just…don't look afraid and no sudden movements. I inhale silently as I plaster a smile on my face.

"Okay Rae," I sound like a douche. I turn back to _Maldick_ as I get up and say, "I hope we get to meet again, Mapco," Lie, "It was nice talking to you." Bigger lie.

I shake his hand again, getting an eyeful of his completely red, completely freaked out face. Haha, sucker.

I turn around and follow behind Raven with a bit of a swagger, mentally congratulating myself. Only for the party to be brought down when Raven turns around with a scowl being placed on her face.

"What do you think you are doing?" she growls lowly.

"Right now? Before you called me here?" I smirk like a smart ass. Hopefully, I'm saving myself and not digging my grave deeper.

"Garfield Mark Logan!" Yup, looks like my grave will be twelve feet under instead of six. Might as will dig myself to Hell while I'm at it.

But still I say, "I was just creating small talk. No big deal."

"You pronounced his name –which is the easiest name to pronounce –wrong."

"Malpork, right?"

"You asked him about his sex life."

"Yeah, that's general _guy_ small talk."

"You asked him if he wanted to have sex with me! In front of _me,_ no less!"

"Again, guy small talk."

"I just met this guy!"

"You don't know what goes on in a man's head before they meet you. They could have been watching you for 15 minutes before they got the courage to talk to you. And during those i5 minutes they could have thought of...inappropriate things of you."

"He's not like that."

"Oh really? How do you know? You just met this guy, right?"

"What about you? How do you know?"

"Simple."

"Please, enlighten me. I'm just _dying_ to know."

"I'm a guy! Duh!"

"Ugh!" she said, before she grabs my shirt and throws me into the wall. She walks up to me with a pointed finger and a fist, "You immature, unethical, egocentric, little –ugh!"

She backed away from me and brought her fist to her face. I release the breath that I was involuntary holding and move so that my back is no longer up against the wall and slightly turned in a way so that I, if she grabs for me again, can run. I've seen and dealt with the violent, bully version of Raven before. I know better than to stay around and try to defend myself if I've got a chance to get away.

"You know what? I don't have to deal with this. I don't have to take any of this from you," she says, with a piercing glare, "You're not in my life as deeply as you once were!"

Ouch...that really hurt.

She turned and began to walk back to the room we were just in. The room with Maldork in it. I grab her wrist and turn her back towards me.

"Look Raven, I'm just worried about you. You're my best friend that I just found again. I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

"Oh my goodness, Gar," she sighs exasperatedly, "You can't stop that from happening, okay? No matter what you do. So please, just…stop trying."

Instantly, I notice the change in Raven as she said this. She went from annoyed and angered to sad, tired, and hopeless. I open my mouth to say something but she just yanks her wrist from my hand and says, "I'll meet you in the lobby in a few."

And with that she walks away, back to the room with Malcock. I sigh and hang my head in shame for what I just did. I realize now that I shouldn't have done that. Any of that. Just come up out of nowhere and start talking. And then, I ask him if he wanted to have sex with her. In front of her no less! Yup, I really shouldn't have done that.

I sigh again and start walking in the opposite direction and into the lobby.

God, I really, really, _really _shouldn't have done that.

"Hey Gar! What's up?" Vic greets with a big smile.

I glance up and give him a meek two-finger wave and walk passed him. I plop myself down on the couch with yet another couch.

"Ya messed with her, didn't ya?" he says knowingly.

Playing dumb, I say, "With who?"

"You know who," he says sitting next to me.

I sigh again. Man, I need to break that habit, "I know. I couldn't help it."

"I know," he said with a nod, "You _are _her best friend and you guys have like…the tightest bond that I've ever seen. Even after years of being split apart. Plus, it's ya nature to look after your own."

"Exactly. I'm glad someone knows."

"But y'know, you are getting to the borderline of best friends and lovers, right?

Oh, I know! But I have to deny, deny, deny.

"What? N-no. What? -no! No, I just care for her. I mean, she just met this…guy and she's going like, all goo-goo eyed and drooling. I just don't want her to lose her head and have her heart broken. That's all."

"How do you know he'll hurt her?"

"I don't. I just have this gut instinct saying that he's no good for her. Something's not right about him."

"Either that or you're jealous."

"I am not jealous!"

"Uh-huh."

"It's the truth!"

"Not exactly," a voice rang out.

I turn my head to see Jamie sitting calmly on the other couch starting at the fire.

Both Vic and I jump about 5 inches in the air.

"Whoa!" I scream a little, "Jamie…where did you come from?"

"My mother's womb," she said, simply.

"Oh well, congratulations," Vic said, awkwardly, "Now what did you mean by "not completely"?" Vic asks.

Shit. Please, Jamie, don't…

"Sorry, that's classified information. If you want to find out you must have the proper leverage."

Thank you, Jamie! Now let's just hope he doesn't have the proper leverage.

"What do you want?" he bargained, with a chuckle.

Finally, looking at us, she says, "That you'll have to figure out. Now where is our little lady bird?"

"Flirting with the dragon in the cafeteria," I growl, slightly.

She nods as she gets up from the couch, "I'll go and say hi."

Once she got out of hearing range, Vic said, "Even 'til this day, she scares me."

I smirk. Yeah, that's Jamie for you.

***

"So that's the story between you two?" Mal says, "How interesting? But now he's-."

"Very protective of me, yes," I nod. We have been talking about Gar and I ever since I came back. Aren't I a great date?

"Well, I guess he doesn't like me very much," Mal sighs.

"Maybe, maybe not," Definitely not, "Gar is the type of person who is very unpredictable and usually acts on impulse. It's his nature to be protective."

"But when he was younger, you always protected him," Mal brought up,

"Yes, true. But when he turned seven he started to toughen up. Especially, when I kind of lost my "tough girl" streak," I explain.

"Interesting," he mused, "As he gets tougher, you grow softer."

Perking my head up, I say, "Hey, I am not that soft. I still have a lot of back bone. It just takes extra effort to get under my skin now."

He chuckles, "Well, it looks like Gar knows how to do that."

I smile and nod, "That he does."

"Hey Raven," A voice calls. I turn my head to see Jamie standing not too far from us.

"Oh ah, Jamie…what are you doing here?" I say nervously. I can't deal with another round of embarrassing personal questions.

"I just wanted to say hi. I'm not doing what Gar did, so you can wipe that worried look off your face," Okay, who is this and what has she done with Jamie?

As if she could read my mind, she said, "Excuse my unusual behavior. I'm like this when I'm not fully awake." She turns her head to Mal, "Hello Malcolm. I'm Jamie, one of Raven's friends. And I'm sorry to interrupt but I have to steal little Miss Lady Bird away. She has a previous engagement."

I look at Mal and nod, disappointedly. But he just smiles and says, "It's alright. But I do have a small request."

Jamie turns her head towards him, "And what is that?"

He looks at me and reaches for my hand, "That the beautiful lady bird comes to meet me in the lobby this morning at ten before I leave."

I blush as I feel his lips caress the back of my hand. I nod my head as his lips leave my hand.

"Until we meet again, Raven," he says, his voice like buttermilk.

He stands up from his chair and walks away. And just like that, our date (as difficult as it was) is over. We have one last time to meet and then, this…is over.

"Eh, he's alright. I'd be cautious though," I hear Jamie say, "Come on we gotta go."

I find myself angry when she says that statement. Be cautious? Why? There's no point in that. Because at ten, I'll basically saying "Goodbye Mr. Perfect." And we'll never see each other again.

I snort out loud. Be cautious? That's when you're sure that you're going to see someone again. And I can't hope because then, I'll only be disappointed later. No point in installing the seed of heartache, right?

* * *

**A/N: Hello everyone! I am sooooo sorry for being late. Just things have been happening. I won't go into details. Uh, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter (even though Mal's in it). I tried to write a description of what she looked like but…it just didn't fit. I didn't want to make her look like this emo/goth/depressed/hates herself type girl (no offense to anyone of those um…persuasions). What else? Oh, I'm looking for BETAs! Check out my profile if you're interested. Uh, I just realized that I have more than 100 reviews for this story! What?! You guys are mad awesome! Especially, my hundredth reviewer Gwenfan22! I feel like I should do something but I don't know what. Lastly, for all of those who read "The Deal" there is a new poll. I need your opinion, please and thank you. Well that's all for now…please review! Peace!**

**Bleeding Writer**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.**

**Note: I've never been skiing/snowboarding. I don't know the lingo. My "ski trips" consists of me hanging with friends, reading a book, drinking hot chocolate, staring at the fire, laughing at friends hurt and frozen bums, and checking out the guys. **

**Chapter 13:**

**Ski Trip Part Three**

"Okay, so is everyone finally ready to go?" Rich says looking back at the lot of us.

Everyone said yes with an exasperated sigh. We had been waiting in the lobby for 45 minutes because of Terra and Kitten. Kitten just _had _to look perfect and Terra didn't want to leave her behind. So we all waited in the stinkin' lobby until the both of them showed up, which just happened to be 30 seconds ago.

"Then, let's go," Rich announced as he grabbed his snowboard.

I smile gleefully, grabbing my board and speeding for the door. 45 minutes is a long time to wait for some relief. Snow-covered mountain tops here I come!

About 20 minutes later, we were looking over the perfectly snow covered run. The snow glistened like a road made out of solid crystals. Absolutely untouched. Perfectly perfect.

"Sweet…" I breathe.

"Totally," Vic nods.

I smirk at him before turning to the crowd behind us.

"Okay, so does everyone know how to ski or snowboard?" I ask. Everyone nodded at me except for one.

Charity huffs loudly before putting her goggles over her eyes, "Yada, yada, yada. Stop talkin' and let's get going." She then, turns and leans forward making her go down the slope.

I smirk as I pull down my goggles and follow her example.

I like what she's thinking!

***

I stand on the edge and watch all of my friends go down the slope, enjoying themselves. I wish I could be in such company. Pure happiness, pure joy. Carefree. Unfortunately, I could not afford such luxury for long. It's like somebody up there was looking down on me and trying to stop my happiness.

"_Hey, Raven is about to be happy! Somebody get her!" _I can hear the person trying to tear me down saying.

My mind travelled to my thoughts earlier; about Malcolm.

I let out a sigh of frustration. Why? My one and only chance to be with someone who isn't like Gar in any way, shape, and/or form will be flying out the window along with the incredibly gorgeous man who bumped into my life. And with my luck that time will be short and interrupted…frequently.

Remember when I talked about someone enjoying my pain? Yeah, well, guess what?

"Are you just going to stand there like an idiot?" said my _favorite_ person in the world.

I roll my eyes, I say, "What I do is none of your business, blondie."

"Ooo, blondie," Terra teased, "Is that the best you've got?" She scoffs at me and flips her as if to say she was better than me.

Boy, was she wrong.

"What's wrong, little bird? Finally, realizing that you don't have a chance with _my _ boyfriend," Terra says.

Rolling my eyes, once again, I say, "Wow, you are conceited. Okay, one, why would you think that I'm interested in your boyfriend?"

There are plenty of reasons why I am interested in her boyfriend and there are plenty of reasons why I stay away from her boyfriend. Her, being one of them.

"Two, I'm not even thinking about him," I wasn't until she brought him up, at least.

Terra simple pressed her lips together before sucking her teeth, "You know what? You're not even worth it. Just stay away from Gar. He's mine. 'Kay, little birdie?"

And with that she leans forward and goes down the mountain.

I shake my head and looked up to the sky. Why? Why me? Can't it once be someone else?

I sigh again. Might as well get this over with. I pull down my goggles and push off down the run.

***

"Woo!" I cheer as I come to a stop once I get to the bottom, "Sweet ride dude!"

Roy smiles, "Yeah man. Yo dude, did ya check out how Charity just went down the hill?"

I shake my head and roll my eyes at him, "Dude, just talk to her already. Look, she's all alone. Go and freakin' talk to her. And talk to her like a _human,_ not a piece of eye candy."

He waited for a moment, going over it in his head before nodding. I saw his "Roy Charm" turn on before he walked over to her. Now hopefully, she won't kill him.

I unbuckle my snowboard from off my feet and waited for the others to come down and join me.

"You might have some competition," I hear a slightly eerie voice say from behind me.

For the second time today, I jumped in the air with a yelp.

"Jamie!" I gasp, "Stop doing that!"

"Sorry," she says as she gets to my side, "I thought you were a man and had balls."

I roll my eyes at her, "What do you want, Jamie?"

"I want to warn you about that Malcolm character," she said, "I have a strong feeling that we're going to be seeing him again. And frequently."

I furrowed my eyebrows at her, "What?"

"You heard me," she said.

I feel myself grow possessive and angry with jealousy by this news. I really don't like this guy. He just can't take a hint and go away and leave us alone.

Wait…us?

I shake my head at the thought of us or rather, the non-existent us.

"Wait a minute, why are you telling me? I'm just her friend not her boyfriend."

She turns her head and looks at me with a disapproving look. She crosses her arms over her chest and says, "Yes, you are her friend. Not only that you're her best friend. No matter how much time you guy have been split apart. Now there's this guy who I think you should be concerned about and you're just standing there saying that you're just a friend. When you and I both know that you feel more for her just friendship."

"Well, what do you want me to do?" I say back, "She doesn't want me involved with her personal stuff anymore."

"I want you to try," Jamie said back.

"I have!"

"Then, try harder."

"She's a big girl. She can take care of herself. She's said that she could so many times."

"You're her friend!"

"That's right! I am her friend! Maybe her best friend but that's it. Alright. Look, I have a girlfriend."

"Don't remind me."

"I'm in a relationship. I should be concerned about that."

"You should be concerned for her too."

"Yeah, but why me? What about you? You're her friend too."

"Because she won't listen to me!" she yells, "I wouldn't get through to her."

"How do you know? Have you tried?"

"No."

"Ah-ha!"

"But that's because I know she won't listen to me. I haven't been her friend that long. She doesn't trust me as much as she trusts you. And if she's in trouble she'll be running to you. Not me! And the sooner you learn that the better!"

And with that, Jamie storms away from me.

I sigh, frustratingly. I have to protect Raven? I have to make sure she's alright? Why? Why should it be me? Why should I even bother? Because every single time I do that, she drags me away, yells at me, and tells me to stay away from her personal life. Every single time.

I closed my eyes for a moment and breathe. Trying to let go. So much for a relaxing holiday.

With a deep inhale, I open my eyes and see my girlfriend in a clad of yellow and black coming towards me, skies in hand.

"Hey babe," she greets as she gets to me.

I smile weakly at her, "Hey Terra."

She leans up and gives me a sweet peck on the lips before saying, "So what were you and that…pink haired girl talking about?"

"Uh, it's Jamie and it was nothing. Just stuff," I said.

"Well, what sort of stuff?" Terra asks.

I shrug, "Just stuff."

Why did she have to know what we were talking about? Better yet, why am I trying to hide the fact that we were talking about Raven?

"Baby," she giggles a little, "What sort of stuff were you two talking about? I mean- it looked like you were getting pissed off for a second there."

"Maybe I was getting pissed off but it's nothing for you to be concerned about," I reply.

Her smile starts to fade at this, "Then, it shouldn't be a problem for you to tell me."

What was it with women and arguing with me today?

"Terra, babe, we were just talking and we got a little upset at each other, that's all. Why are you so pushy on this?"

She looks at the ground for a moment, shrugging a little, "Well, I was just wondering. I mean- why do you hang out with those girls? I mean- they're, like, so weird and…_creepy._"

Oh no, not this again...

I sigh loudly, "Terra, we've been through this before."

"And I still don't understand why do you, like, hang out with them. They're completely and totally bizarre."

"Oh! And I'm the epitome of normalcy!"

"That's not what I mean, Gar!"

"Then, what is the point, Terra?"

***

I went straight back to the lodge as soon as my run was over. Not even bothering to talk to anyone. It was almost ten. I had little time. I walking in and quickly took off all of my borrowed ski gear.

"Hello Raven," I hear a voice from behind me say. I freeze for a moment, a little shocked at the startling voice. I slowly turn around to see his icy blue eyes looking back at me.

"Hello Mal," I say back to him, "How long have you been standing there?

He shrugs with a playful smile dangling on his lips, "I got here as soon as you walked through those doors."

I flush a little as he gazes down at me. Gods, he's gorgeous.

"So," he starts, "We have about ten minutes together. Do you want to take a walk with me?"

Smiling, I nod my head and take his extended arm.

***

"Ugh! You're not understanding me!" Terra yells.

"No, I think I am!" I yell back, "You don't like them because they're different!"

"If that was the case, then, I wouldn't be dating you and hanging out with your annoying little friends!" she shot back.

I flinch a little upon hearing loud gasps around us, alerting me of their presence. It doesn't matter. If they want to watch let them.

***

We started to talk, basically about nothing. Just the nice pleasant and casual conversation starters. By the time we reach the lobby, Malcolm turns towards me and says, "Do you think we could see each other again?"

Oh, why did he have to ask that?

"I don't know," I answer, "My father's really strict."

"If that's the only problem, then it's not much of one," was his kind retort.

I chuckle a little, saying, "You don't know my father."

Pushing a strand of hair from out of my face and stroking my cheek, "Well, we'll work around him."

I sigh, "Mal, we're most likely never going to see each other again after this."

"Where do you live again, Raven?" he says casually.

Confused by the question, I furrow my eyebrows, "Jump City. Why?"

A smirk appears on his lips, "No reason."

***

"Why do you insist on being a jerk?!" Terra shouts.

"You're the one telling me to ditch my true friends!" I shot back, extending out my arm to make my point.

Terra scoffs, "Ha! you're true friends?! Yeah right! They're just, like, using you so they could look cool. Which sure isn't working."

" Oh, like your friends! Kitten has been using you to get closer to Rich for, like, the longest time. And, believe it or not, they're better friends than you are!"

"What?!" Terra says. The crowd gasps in response.

I continue, "Yeah, because you're an immature, insecure, "always-have-to-go-my-way," little spoiled brat like you!"

"Excuse me, but I thought that _you_ asked _me_ out. Not the other way around!"

"And regretted the decision ever since," I said, the words coming out harsher than I thought it would be.

She paused for a moment. Stunned by my words.

"Oh," she had nothing to say, "I guess…I guess I'll just leave then." And walked away, her blonde hair turning dramatically with her.

I watch her leave. Somewhat frozen in place, unsure if I would regret my words later. I look around at the shocked faces before I push my way through the crowd to the lobby.

***

He slides his hand down towards my hand, wrapping his fingers around it.

My head gets light and dizzy.

His icy blue eyes peer into mine, holding me in this spot. But his eyes don't hold mine for long. His lips become the only thing in my line of vision and I start to imagine my lips on his. The air tightens around us, bringing us closer together. Everything in the world fades. My mind grows still. They only thing that matters is me and him and his lips. His nose lightly brushes against my forehead causing me to close my eyes and part my lips slightly. A second later his lips as press against mine in a sweet, sweet kiss.

For what felt like years, which were actually a few seconds, our lips were connected until he pulled away from me. he leaned his forehead against mine and said, "'Til I see you again, my beautiful lady bird."

He kissed my forehead and caressed my hands before pulling away and turning.

I watched him walk away and head out the door. Walking out of my life just as he walk into mine.

"Goodbye," I whisper after him, "Malcolm."

***

I storm down the hall and through the threshold of the lobby only to be greeted by a disturbing sight.

There in front of me, I see Raven and that-that _Malturd_ guy pull away from a kiss. And then, I see him kiss her forehead, whisper a sweet nothing, before walking away without looking back at her.

I sneered at the sight of them and turn sharply on my heel, stomping my way to my room.

If she wants to fall for the likes of him, fine. Let her deal with it. I just can't deal with all this right now.

* * *

**A/N: Hello everyone! I've updated again as you can see. I have one more chapter of their trip in the lodge, so they'll be back in school soon, for those who are wondering. I don't have much to say this time around. Oh, thank you for your reviews! I'm still looking for BETAs. "The Deal," and "The Second Deal" are covered already. Everything you need to know is on my profile. And that's all for now…please review! Peace!**

**Bleeding Writer**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.**

**Chapter 14: **

**Ski Trip Part Four**

"Knock, knock," a voice says from the other side of the door.

I groan in protest, "Who is it?"

"Vic and Jamie," I hear with an echo.

_Great_…they're both here. I groan again as I turn over and bury by head further into my bed sheets, "Not now."

I sigh as I hear the door click open, "Too bad! One of us lives here and I'm inviting Jamie in."

"So what was the point of knocking?" I say.

"Courtesy."

I grunt, "Whatever."

The smell of Vic's gumbo wafts through the air and into my nose. In an instant, my mouth begins to drool at the delicious aroma. I turn over in my bed and pull my sheets down a little so that I may see the bowl of gumbo.

"You have gumbo," I say sitting up and reaching for the bowl, "You have my attention."

I've always been a sucker for his gumbo.

"Told ya," Vic says to Jamie, handing me the bowl. He turns back to me as he sits down on his bed, "Okay man, what's goin' on with you?"

Rolling my eyes, I say, "You saw what happened and Jamie, you know everything already. No need to repeat myself."

"That is true," Jamie shrugs, "Anyway, I have some news for you."

"Oh yeah," I snort as I take in a mouthful of gumbo, "Like what?"

"Malcolm's gone…for now."

"Yeah, ya had me at 'he's gone' and pissed me off again at, 'for now.'"

"Hold up! Back up the vegetable truck –who the Hell is Malcolm?" Vic asks...in a very..._Vic_ way.

"Raven's most recent love interest as of yesterday evening."

I growl at the thought.

"Oh, come on, man, stop being so down in the dumps. Look, you and Terra said some things that you didn't mean. And Raven's getting down with the dating scene. What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing," I grunt, "I just…I don't like him."

Jamie sighed, "And you're jealous."

"No, I'm not!" I say quickly with blood rushing into my cheeks.

"And with that reaction, you just admitted that you are," Jamie says, arching her eyebrow.

"I'll say," Vic said, "You like Raven?"

"My gods keep up, man! Yes, he does like Raven and has admitted it to me and you," Jamie says exasperatedly, "Now, can we please move on?"

"Jamie!" I exclaim.

She just makes a face at me. I'm guessing it's for me to shut up or something. She huffs, "Now, Malcolm will be appearing in our lives once again shortly. And when that happens, Raven will have fallen enamored with him and will not listen to reason from any of us. Including you."

"And what about this is supposed to make me feel better?" I grumble.

She shrugs, "None of it. It's supposed to warn you."

"Already did that."

"And doing it again," she snaps.

"So I'm guessing this guy is bad news?" Vic asks.

"Yes! Where have you been for this conversation?! The looney bin?!" Jamie yells.

Vic puts his hands up in defense and backed away, "Okay, okay. Jeez, no need to jump down my throat."

"Sorry. It's just the cold. I don't function well in the cold and I had a bit of an early morning," she explains crossing her arms across her chest. She turns back to face me, "Listen, even though she's going to be as stubborn as the mule, you're going to have to talk to her about him and steer her clear away from him."

"I can't."

"Oh, not this again!"

"Once Raven has made up her mind there's no straying her."

"He knows that better than anyone," Vic chimes in.

"Ugh!" Jamie scowls, "'I can't.' 'It's too hard.' 'It's not that easy.' Well, you know what? Suck it up, grow some balls, suck it harder, and freakin' do it! It's only as hard as you make it!"

"Look Jamie," I growl, "I have some issues going on at the moment and I'm not exactly in the mood to deal with all of this right now. So could you please…"

I get up from my bed and open my door, "…leave?"

Jamie's face hardens, "Fine then."

She gets up and leaves but as she goes she says, "By the way, be prepared for an overflow of dramatic tears."

I roll my eyes at her as she walks down the corridor before I look to Vic. He looks at me with an apparent frown of disappointment on his face and shakes his head.

"You know what?" he says, "I'm going to leave you alone for a little while."

"Go ahead," I say walking back to my bed, "Do as you please. See if I care."

He sighs as he gets up and walks to the door.

"Hey man, we're going to be having a huge snowball fight at one. You in?"

I sigh as turning back into my bed, "Maybe."

I hear Vic sigh and leave the room, closing the door behind him.

Finally, some peace. I close my eyes and allow my mind to empty, falling into a mind numbing sleep.

---

_**Knock!**_

_**Knock!**_

_**Boom!**_

I jolt awake as I hear the door slam open, "What the Hell?!"

I see Vic, Rich, Garth, Roy, and Wally coming straight for me.

"Time for a snowball fight, Gar! We need all the players we can get, man!" Rich says.

I groan as I pull the blankets over my head, I say, "Come back later!"

"Uh, no. Now," he says, pulling the sheets from off my bed.

"Guy, no!" I yell as they grab my legs and arms.

"It's alright guys," I hear Vic say, "He told me to do as we please."

Damn it, Vic!

***

The wind rushing pass my face is exhilarating. Relieving the small pain of Mal's leaving. The girls decided to head back up the mountain for another run down. I came along with so that I wouldn't be left alone to dwell on my thoughts. I taste the wintery pine air on my tongue. Bittersweet it was, very much like how he left.

I smile in spite of myself.

"What are you smiling at?" Jamie yells over to me, the wind taking most of her words.

I shake my head, "Nothing. Just enjoying the air."

I pull my goggles down onto my face and push myself off down the slope, having this numb feeling engulf me whole. My god, does it feel wonderful to not feel anything. I wish I could be that way every day.

I reach the bottom of the slope, finding myself several feet from the lodge. I look back and see the girls coming up not too far behind. I sigh as I bend down to take off my rented skis. As I stand back up, a snowball hits my face. I shake my head from the impact and look around. My eyes land on the boys for one second until they impale me with more snowballs. I hear the girls come behind me, being hit by the incoming snowballs as well. We quickly move to put our skis away and duck away from them behind a rack of logs.

I watch the girls around me grab some snow and ball it up in their hands. Now usually, this is the part where I try to make an escape and not participate in these childish antics. But instead, I let go of all ambitions and let the chips fall where they may. Anything to get my mind off of Mal.

I grab a handful of snow and prepare myself to fire at the troublesome boys. Jamie lifts up three fingers and gives us a countdown to prepare. Once she gets to the last number, we all pop out and begin throwing our own snowballs.

Out of all the guys, Gar was the best slinger, surprisingly. He was taking us down with amazing ease. If I didn't know any better, I would think he was a baseball player. I threw back as hard as I could.

"Hey!" Jamie calls over to me as we duck behind the pile of logs, "We're getting hammered out here. You're the best slinger we've got and you're pretty small. Go 'round the back and take Gar out. We'll distract him for you. Stay low and wait for my signal to go."

I nod my head and ready myself to go.

"Go!" she says coming up from behind the logs and pelting Gar and the others with as many snowballs as they can. I jump from behind the logs and sneak into the shadows, crawling passed the enemy lines. I take a small moment to make a quick, but effective snowball and continue on towards my target.

I'm just about to spring into action when Gar turns and sees me crawling over. I scramble to my feet as fast as I can and jump towards him before he has a chance to throw a snowball my way.

***

Just as I'm about to sling a snowball at my oncoming attacker, Raven jumps at me and tackles me down, causing us to roll down the hill behind me. As we come to a stop, I take a split second to realize that we have rolled a little away from the others. I look down at Raven to see her pressing her lips together and a wide smile on her face. I smile back, allowing a laugh to escape my throat. I watch as Raven struggles to hold it in, her lips quivering. I take this moment to slip my fingers under her thick winter jacket and tickle her sides.

That got her.

She busted out laughing, closing her eyes tightly and clutching her sides. She twisted and turned underneath me, kicking her legs out to get away.

"This is the price you pay for sneaking up on me, Rae," I say, still laughing along with her.

"Stop! I can't breathe!" she says, laughter coursing through her words.

"Give up," I say, still not stopping.

"Please Gar," she says.

"Give up," I press.

"Alright! Alright! I give!" she laughs.

I stop my fingers and sit over her, watching her calm down. And that's when I notice our position. I'm on top of her, my legs on either side of her waist, and I'm propped up on my elbows, which is the only thing that is keeping our midsections from touching.

It was really an…_interesting_ position.

I look back up at Raven and see her with this calm but goofy smile on her face. My eyes travel to hers and instantly, I feel the air tighten around us. Her eyes are so warm, so…inviting, that I can't help myself from wanting to get closer. Slowly, I lean down lower and lower. My eyes leaving hers in the process and looking down at her lips. I feel my eyes close and my lips part as I get closer to them, wanting to feel against mine.

And then, it happened.

***

I feel his lips press against my own, so warm, sweet, and soft. Immediately, I feel this warmth shoot through me and fill me up. Even though we are surrounded by snow, I feel so warm inside me.

But then, I think about Mal and his kiss. It felt nothing like this. I mean, it felt great and all but this felt…

Wait a minute. Mal!

I pull my lips away from his and gasp, covering my lips. I can't believe what I just did. I kissed Gar! I kissed Gar and Mal! Both in the same day!

As soon as I feel Gar move from on top of me, I sit up. Before I have a chance to get myself up, I see Gar with his hand extended, ready to help me. I eye it skeptically for a moment.

Oh for goodness sake, just take the damn hand! It's not going to bite you! Jeez Raven, keep it together! Even though you like this guy. And he just kissed you. But he has a girlfriend. And you're trying to get over Mal (even though it only lasted for about 48 hours). And you don't want Gar to get hurt. I mean, he's too involved as it is.

No, no, just stay cool and don't acknowledge that it ever happened. Yes, that's what we're going to do.

I take his hand, allowing him to lift me up but as soon as I get on my feet I let go and trudge back up the hill towards our friends.

I knew I was going to let go but that…_that _was a whole new meaning to the phrase.

***

I watch Raven go back up the hill for a moment, wondering what just happened. I mean, I know what happened but her reaction…

I chase after her, coming up to her side.

"Did that just happen?" I ask, not even trying to disguise my concern with other questions.

She replies quickly and curtly, "No."

I squeeze my eyes shut and clench my jaw.

How could I have been so stupid? How could I have been so fucking stupid to kiss her and to think that maybe…_just maybe_ she feels the way I do about her?

Hiding my frustration, I say, "Right."

***

"Right," I hear him say.

I close my eyes shut for a moment before releasing the breath that I was holding.

I'm so stupid.

* * *

**A/N: Hey you guys, a new chapter! Later than expected as usual but still! At least, I got it in! I hope you guys like this chapter! Even though, it's really sucky on my end of the stick. I really don't have much to say. Oh, I'm still looking for BETA's. The position of being BETA for "The Deal Series" has been fulfilled. Sorry for anyone who wants to do that. This one is still open for the moment. All the info is on my page once again. Well, that's all for now…please review! Peace!**

**Bleeding Writer**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.**

**Chapter 15:**

**Guess Who**

"Gar, would you please pay attention?!" Raven growls for the millionth time today.

"But Raven, organic chemistry is so boring!" I whine, "And really, _really _hard!"

She scoffs at me placing two fingers on the bridge of her nose… "That's why you need to focus so it won't be as hard!"

With a sigh, I lean back on the desk hovering over my paper, "But it's still boring."

"Well that's too bad," sarcasm riddled throughout her tone, "Deal with it!"

It's been two weeks since the kiss up at the Ski Lodge, Raven and I have been really…_on edge_ with each other. I've tried to talk to her about it several times but she refuses to talk…about much of anything, really. I look over at her, trying to read her. An impossible mission, I know, but I had to try. After a few moments of staring, I sigh.

Leaning against the surface of the counter on my forearms, I say, "Why have you been so snappy at me lately?"

I couldn't beat around the bush anymore. It was driving me crazy not talking to her without my head being chopped off. I mean, it wasn't like she was a little chatter box filled with rainbows and butterflies to begin with but it wasn't cold and venomous every time she spoke like it is now. "Can we please just get this work done?" her words were as frigid as a Polar Bear's ass in the North Pole, buried in the snow.

I open my mouth to say something but our teacher always seems to have the best timing.

"Excuse the interruption class but I'd like to announce that we have a new student. Everyone please welcome Malcolm Drache."

You've got to be kidding me…

***

I turn to look at the new student and I instantly noticed pale, pale skin and shimmering platinum hair. My eyes moved up to his face. Thin but pouty lips, sharp features, and then, piercing icy blue eyes. The very pair I saw at the Lodge.

My breath hitched in my throat as his eyes set on mine. His lips turned into a nice smirk and winked sending my heart racing.

"Hello," he starts, his smooth accent filling the silent room, "It's really nice to be here."

I ignore whatever Mrs. Singleton says, focusing on him and him only. He stares back at me –sparing her a fleeting glance before he moves past a few of the desks and drops his bag in the empty sit behind mine.

Wait…_my _seat?

Slowly Mrs. Singleton's voice fades into my hearing… "And you can work with Victor and Terra."

He looks over to them for a moment before looking back at me. His lips spread from a smirk to a smile and mouthed a, 'Hey' to me. I blush with a smile on my lips and meekly open my hand in a greeting.

It's interesting how this all seems to happen in a Chemistry class.

***

I pick up my tray from the lunch room counters and walk over towards to the "Odd Girls" table in the grumpiest mood. That Mal-douche came in and instantly Raven's all googly-eyed over him. I tried to talk to her after everyone got settled back into whatever project we were doing but she didn't really say much, just mere 'yeah's' and 'uh-huh's'. I even told her that Rich was actually worked for a late night vigilante billionaire and punched criminals in the face all night, every night in a traffic light looking spandex costume with a stupid mask on jumping from rooftop to rooftop like an acrobat. Her response:

"That's nice."

Fucker!

I slunk into my seat and started poking my veggie wrap. I don't even want to eat, thanks to that Russian slithering snake! From out of my peripherals, I saw Raven with her nose buried in her textbook and Jamie looking at me. I slowly blink, raising my eyes to her as well as my eyebrows.

"Tell me how you really feel," she says with a slight sarcastic tone. I roll my eyes but say nothing. She already knows. I glance at Raven, watching her write something in her journal and reading the words on the page at the same time. Heh… Such a bookworm, but I love that about her.

I blink again and look over her shoulder and I see Mal-fuck making a beeline for our table. Instantly, I jump, wanting to keep the two apart. I slam my hand down on the page that she was reading.

She looks up with an annoyed face and glares but I ignore it. "Can I talk to you for a second?" I blurt. The cock sucker was zoning in and was going to be there before I could finish asking if I had hesitated.

She looks at me confusedly before the bastard comes up from behind her and makes his presence known to her.

"Hey," he says with a flirty smile. I just want to punch his face in. She gives him a smile back (calm down, Gar) and says "Hi" back.

I couch loudly, getting her attention again. She lets out a silent sigh of exasperation as she turns to me, "What?"

"I need to talk to you," I say. I glance up at him, sending him the deadliest warning look I can muster, "_Alone."_

She sighs again and gives me a 'must I?' look. I just give her another look tell her that it was serious. Rolling her eyes, she throws her hands up in the air, "Sure."

Slowly she gets up, turning to that dude and gives him an apologetic look. But he just smiles that annoying smile and says, "I'll keep your sit warm."

_Fucking Russian_. I growl as I pass him, glaring as hard as I can at him. I'm not sure if it's me but I swear I saw him flinch.

Good.

I walk out of the cafeteria with Raven flanking behind me. Before I even have a chance to turn around, Raven huffs. "Okay, what's this about?"

"The kiss up at the lodge-," I start but she groaned the very moment I said "kiss."

"Oh, why don't you leave it alone, Gar?"

"I can't. Rae, we have to talk about it.

"What is there to talk about?" she says, "I thought we agreed that it didn't happen."

"I can't pretend that it didn't, Rae."

"Well that sounds like a personal problem," her arms crossing over her chest. She looks at me with defiance, screaming that she won't budge. The conversation was over.

I sigh, placing my fingers on the bridge of my nose, "Okay well, that's not the only thing I want to talk to you about."

"Oh I can't wait to hear this!" her sarcasm making its appearance again today.

"I'm not so sure about that guy you're hanging out with," I say, automatically knowing that I was in for a world full of trouble.

"Oh my goodness!" she groans, "Gar, would you just stop?"

"No, Raven, I mean it. I think this guy's bad news. I think-."

"Just stop!" she yells, "I don't want to hear it, Gar. Just..."

She pauses for a moment, taking a deep breath. "Just leave me alone." With that, she turned away from me and heads for the cafeteria.

And I made no move to stop her. She wants to go that way then, I guess... so be it.

***

I walk back to the table, my mood dampened thanks to Mr. "We Always Need to Talk About Everything Now." I mean, how dare he? Really, how dare he? Every time I'm with him it's always "We need to talk, we need to talk" when he knows I don't _want_ to talk about it. I sigh deeply as I hear Gar's footsteps follow behind me. I look up, glancing over my shoulder and sure enough there he was.

He said nothing, his expression stoic and his body harsh and frigid. He didn't even look at me. He just walked right on passed as if I wasn't even then. I watched him walk ahead, grab his tray (murmuring to the girls for a moment), and turned away without a second glance, making his way back to his own table.

I look over to his table, seeing the familiar bright yellow blonde there. I growl silently at the sight of her. Oh yes! – he _does_ have the _best_ sense of _character!_

I sit down at my table, smiling a little at Mal. He glances up for a moment and smiles back at me before turning back to Jamie, "So you like Healing Spells?"

She nods at him.

"Oh well. Have you read "_Libro Antico di Guarigione Incantesimi__" _yet?"

She shakes her head, "No, but I'm dying to get them."

"Well, I can let you have mine, if you'd like?"

Looking at him skeptically, Jamie straightens in her seat. "I'm not so sure about that…"

"Oh come on! It's no big deal," he says, "A gift from one friend to another."

I don't know how but I instantly knew exactly what she was going to say. "Yeah well that's the thing. I'm n-,"

I nudged her as hard as I could with my foot, forcing her to look over to me. I pressed my lips together, telling her to shut her big flapping mouth. She glared at me for a moment. She took a breath, lifting her chin with one last glare before turning to Mal. "I'll borrow the books for two weeks. I can remember all the spells by then. They are way too expensive and rare to give away and I'm not a charity."

He chuckles, leaning back into his seat. "I certainly don't think you a charity."

"Of course not," she says with a smile. I can't tell if it's fake or not.

Mal continues, "Alright-y then. But it is five volumes and the books a very, very thick."

"I know," Jamie snaps, "I can remember all the spells in two weeks."

"Alright then, I'll get them to you tomorrow."

Jamie grunted in response as she stuffed her mouth with more food. Her eyes flicked to me. I know that we were going to be talking later. Rolling my eyes, I turn to Mal seeing him looking back at me. He smiles at me, "Raven, may I see you alone please?"

I try my hardest not to smile, "Sure."

Standing up, he helps me out of my chair and gives me his arm. If the smile I was fighting wasn't there before, it is now. We walk a little further, away from earshot before he turns to me.

"Raven," he starts, "About the kiss at the lodge. You don't think I was being to forward with you, do you?"

I look down at the floor, embarrassedly, "No, not really."

"Oh," he sighs, "That's a relief. I was afraid that I might have been."

"Oh no," I say, "I never thought that."

"If you could go back to that moment, would you have stopped me?"

I look at him, a blush coming up on my cheeks. Shrinking into myself, I shake my head and look away from him once again, to look at anywhere, anything, but his face.

"Good because I really like you, even though I haven't known you for a long time. I was also really hoping I hadn't frightened you off when we met again."

My brows furrowed, "Wait…you knew we were going to meet?"

"Yes, actually – if not at school, if would be somewhere else. But either way, I would've made sure that we would meet again," he grins, "Hope you don't mind, but I wanted to surprise you."

Okay, now I know he can defiantly tell that I'm blushing…

He chuckled, his hand coming up to caress my cheek, "You're so cute when you blush."

I dip my head down even more, embarrassed under his beautiful eyes.

"Raven?"

I tilted my head up towards him, "Yes?"

"I was wondering…would you like to go out with me? On a date – I mean. We can go as friends if you like."

My eyes widen at the question. I want to say yes so badly. I really, really do. I couldn't let him get too close to me though. I shake my head, "Mal, I like you – really, I do. But I can't–."

"Why can't you?" he asks.

"Because of…I–I just can't."

"Can you tell me why not?"

"It's my father."

"I could've sworn that I said that we could go as friends…"

"Mal-."

"Raven," he said in a slight whisper, clasping my small soft hands in his big rough ones, "Please just give me a chance, please."

He looks at me with his icy blue eyes that seem to cut through me to where I feel naked and vulnerable. I bite at my lip. I don't know if I should do this…

"As friends…?" I say almost sounding like a question. He smiles at me, "It's a date, then."

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys! I am super duper uber sorry for being late with this update. College is taking over my life and doing some serious blocking of my thoughts. I don't know when I'm going to update again. But I WILL update! Be sure of that. And yes, I'm well aware that Gar is cursing a lot in this chapter. He does that when angry (at least in my mind). This is a rated T fanfic for a reason, people. I hope you guys like this chapter and that it was worth the long wait. If not I'll try even harder on the next one! Well that's all for now…please review! Peace!**

**Bleeding Writer**

**P.S. **_**Libro Antico di Guarigione Incantesimi **_**is Italian for "Ancient Book of Healing Spells." I got it from an online translator, I don't know how to speak Italian. Sorry if I'm incorrect.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.**

**Note: This story was written (traditional pencil and paper) during the time the last Harry Potter book was about to come out as well as the movie. It is mentioned in the following chapter. I also don't own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 16:**

**Spring Love**

Pulling myself up into the tree house, I sigh. I walk over to my favorite beanbag, plopping down on its beanie goodness and dropping my back pack on the wooden floor. I lean into the seat, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath.

Today was not a good day…and that was putting it mildly. Not only did the Mal-"what's his face" show up at school, not only is he permanently in our school, not only has he swept Raven off her feet, not only has he asked her out on a date but Raven basically sent me away. I'm her best friend and she just…dismissed me for some dude she met at a Ski Lodge.

I sigh agitatedly, digging into my bag for my homework. As I rummage through, I look up at the wall. The words, "Best Friends 4ever!" painted large across the wall with Raven's, Richard's, Vic's, and my handprint around it.

I smile. God, _those _were the days. Running down the streets, playing tag and hide and seek all over the neighborhood, wrestling in the dirt, mud, and rain. All the times Raven and I came up here together…just the two of us.

Now _that _was absolute best!

She and I would talk for hours on end up here about anything. We would play up here all day and sometimes we would even sleep up here, completely wiped out from what we did that day. We were inseparable back then. We did everything together. Except read…that was mainly her thing.

I remember the day I realized that I liked Raven a lot more than just a friend. I was seven and it was spring. It was one of the days that we had slept up here. But the night before was the night that Raven had fallen into my arms (for some reason, I have yet to figure out) and hugged me, thanking me for being her friend. I had felt odd for a moment. For one, not knowing why she was doing that and two, because I felt comfortable – like she belonged there almost. Same thing happened that following morning where I found her cuddled up in my arms.

As that memory ended, my mind travelled to another one. I remember the day that I waited for Raven to show up for the sunrise and she didn't. And I waited the day after that and the day after that. Five days of waiting for her up here until my parents told me that she was missing. I refused to believe it for a long while. I came up here, I went to her house, I went to the playground where we met – all of our old hang outs but she was nowhere to be found. I prayed and hoped for a long time – nine years, in fact – wishing she would come back, hoping that I would find her up here, waiting for me. And every time that she isn't here, I just sit, do my homework, and think about her. Almost like what I'm doing now.

I shake my head, finally pulling out my homework out of my bag. I huff as I open the notebook. Ugh, English sucks.

***

_Few nights later…_

I stand on the corner, waiting for Mal to show up, embarrassedly. I don't know why but I feel like a total fool waiting for him like some eager little school girl waiting for her first boyfriend.

Not that he is my boyfriend…okay, maybe that was a bad way of describing this situation.

_**Beep! Beep!**_

I turn my head to see Mal driving up to me in a black Mustang. An instant smile reaches my lips. Okay, maybe it was a slightly good way of describing the situation. He pulled over and got of his car.

"Hey," he calls, "What's a pretty girl like you waiting here all alone? Waiting for her boyfriend, perhaps?"

"No, I'm waiting for my _friend_," I say back, playing his game.

Smiling, he says, "Could I…I don't know…be this _friend_ of yours?"

I shrug, "Maybe.

His smile grew wider, jerking his head to the side gesturing for me to get in the car.

I smile as open the car door and climb in. After a few minutes of riding and talking in his car, he pulled over.

"Okay we're here," Mal says as he turns off the car.

"The movies?" I say, confusedly. He nods, "Yes, perfect outing for people who are friends, right?"

I smirk, "Right."

"So what movie do you want to see?" Mal asks. I shrug, "Do you like Harry Potter?"

"Are you kidding? Of course, I do! Actually, I was hoping you were going to choose that one," he said while smiling.

I smile softly, "Then, let's go and buy the tickets."

---

"How about those seats?" he asks pointing up to a few rows up. I nod as follow behind him. We make our way to the seats and start to get settled. "So, Raven, have you read the books?"

"Of course I have."

"So what is your prediction for the seventh book?" he asks.

"Well, I think that Neville is going to do something amazing like kill Voldemort. And I think Harry is one of Voldemort's seven Horcruxes."

"Hmmm, interesting prediction…I like it."

"Thank you," I blush as the lights dimmed and the previews began. I put a finger to my lips before turning towards the screen. After getting past the twenty minute long series of previews, the movie started. About ten minutes, I heard him yawn while he stretched. He brought his arm around and down on my shoulder.

Too bad of a classic.

"Hey Mal," I whisper, turning towards him, seeing him lean for me. At the last possible second, I put my hand over his lips, "Nice try. I give you points for trying. But you're not getting another kiss from me any time soon."

He merely smiles behind my hand as he backs away from me, refocusing on the screen but his arm still stayed. A few hours later, the movie ended.

"Wow," Mal started, "The movie really doesn't ever do the book justice."

"I know," I say as we make our way out the Cinema, "They do that for basically every movie and they always cut out a lot of the _actual _important parts of the books."

Chuckling as he unlocks his car, "I know! And I still go to the movie with that in mind."

"It's kinda like…masochism, huh?" I add.

He laughs again, "In a weird way, I suppose."

"So are we done for the day?"

Sliding into the car, he says, "No. We've only just begun."

***

"And his eyes are so blue too!" Terra says for the hundredth time.

"Mmhmm," I say, annoyed by the main topic of conversation is none other then, you guessed it, Malcolm! God, I really, _really_ hate that guy. Now my own girlfriend is taken by him.

As Terra rants on and on about Malcolm my thoughts drift to Raven. She's so stricken with him. I don't understand it. There's something not right about this guy. How can she not pick up on that? She usually has a great sense of character…hence me!

What if…what if she's trying to make me jealous? Maybe if I break up with Terra – no, that's not it.

She doesn't like me and that's all there is to it.

***

"Here we are!" Mal says as we pull into the parking lot of _Luigi's Pizza_. Climbing out of the car, a vision of Gar flashes through my mind. I close my eyes and block him out as hard as I can. Huh, that was weird.

I turn to Mal, giving him a smile, "Oooh, pizza."

"So are you a pepperoni, cheese, or a lot of toppings type of gal?" he asks me.

"Cheese. I don't eat meat on pizza."

"Why?"

"I had a vegetarian friend and well…" I trail off.

"Oh…so you only eat cheese?"

"Yes."

"Well that's very cool of you to do for a friend," he says as he opened the doors to the Pizzeria, "I'll get the food, you get the seat."

I nod and begin to look around the restaurant.

"Raven," I hear Gar's voice as he flashes through my mind again. I shake my head, trying to rid myself of the thought of Gar. I find a table and take a seat, waiting for Mal with the pizza. All the while, I continue to not think about Gar, which is quite hard to do when I have nothing else to do.

***

"And he has the nicest manners or at least for guys nowadays," Terra ranted. Oh yeah…she's still talking about him. And she hasn't stopped once.

Jeez, why is he just…I don't know, perfect to women? I mean, come on! He's just has decently good looks, a Russian accent, and the fakest charm. He's not all that.

"Terra," I say as calmly as possible, "Can we please talk about something else?"

She pauses for a moment, looking at me in what could be a glare (compared to Raven's glare, this is nothing). She then, rolls her eyes and shrugged before moving onto a better conversation topic. It's still nothing I really want to listen to but at least I can look interested.

***

"So are you enjoying yourself?" Mal asks as he grabs another slice of pizza.

I nod as I swallow down the mashed up piece of pizza in my mouth. "Yes, I am. What about you?"

Smirking, he says, "I'm here with a very beautiful, intelligent, absolutely wonderful young woman, eating very, very good cheese pizza with her. Yes, I would say I'm having a wonderful time."

I look down at the fabric of my jeans, flushed with fever as I try hard to once again hide the ever-persistent smile and blush. Closing my eyes, I feel his warm, strong finger flutter underneath my chin and tilt my head up to him. Again, a flash of Gars face ran across my mind. I blink the vision away once again.

"I told you not to hide your smile," Mal says. Looking up at him, I see his face but Gar's voice is the one coming out of his lips, "It's too beautiful to hide."

Despite the fact that I am not only hearing someone else's voice out of the wrong lips and the fact that I'm thinking about my best friend rather than my actual date, what he said was enough to make me blush some more. "You have very gorgeous eyes, Raven."

"Thank you," I mumble as my eyes drift down to his wrist, breaking away from his gaze. His watch instantly comes into view. Without really thinking, I grab onto his wrist and pull it so that I may see his watch clearly.

_10:37 P.M._

Oh no…

I move away from his touch, "Oh no. I need to get home."

Mal's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "Is everything okay?"

I shake my head, "No, uh, not really. I…I just have to get home. Now!"

I grab my stuff and stand up from my seat, walking to the front door whether he was coming or not. I just hope Father hasn't noticed that I'm not home yet.

"Oh okay then," I hear him mumble behind me. Several minutes later and a few heart attacks later, we pull up to my usual drop off corner.

"Here we are," he says.

"Thank you, Mal," I say as I rush to get out of his car, "I had a great time with you."

"Hey, Raven," he calls, "I was wondering, would you like to do this again with me sometime?"

"Oh uh…yeah sure," I say, somewhat rushed. I really needed to get out of there.

"Maybe more than friends, next time?"

I smile, "Maybe…we'll see. Now I really have to go."

He smiles s he leans towards me and kisses my cheek. "See you tomorrow, then. Good night and sweet dreams, my dear Raven," he whispers in my ear.

I finally get out of the car and shut the door, waving him goodbye. He smiles up and drives off into the night.

God, I love the spring.

* * *

**A/N: Happy Holidays everyone! I hope everyone is enjoy their holiday. I'm sorry it came out later than expected. I had this chapter done around Thanksgiving but my BETA disappeared. So you'll probably find a lot more mistakes in this chapter than usual. Sorry about that but I felt that you guys deserved a chapter. Hopefully, I'll find my BETA and the next one will be up before I start classes again. Well that's all for now...peace!**

**Bleeding Writer**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.**

**Warning: Violent content in the following chapter and a bit OOC.**

**Chapter 17:**

**The Truth Part One**

"This is getting nauseatingly ridiculous," Jamie groans as she watches Mal and Raven go off by themselves once again, being sickly, disgustingly sweet like usual. Ever since their first date, they have been attached to each other's hips like lovesick puppies.

"You're telling me! If I have to hear him say something about how to control my problems again, I'm throwing a knife at him and I'm aiming for his throat!" Charity hisses.

"I barely talk to her anymore," I mumble to myself.

"Lucky," Arielle murmurs back, "At least, you don't have to hear about how "wonderful" Mal is everyday goddamned freakin' day!"

"I'm seriously getting tired of his "I-know-everything" cocky ass attitude," snaps Kole.

"Dudes, it's been a month now and he hasn't done anything to hurt Raven. And Raven is still lovestoned over him. And no matter what we say, nothing is making her come to her senses," I say annoyed.

"It's the sad unfortunate fat of a fool's paradise," Jamie sighs, pushing her food around, "The worst thing is that I can't find out what he's doing."

I sigh, "Whatever."

"Hey," Wally calls, "I can see that the sick love birds left."

"Yeah they did," I grumble as Wally takes a sit at the table. Looking over to him, I notice him eyeing down Jamie who is too busy avoiding his gaze to notice.

Hmm…light bulb!

"Hey Wally, I whisper as I lean closer to him, "Jamie wants to know a bit about track. You know, seeing that you're the track star of the school, you should know that stuff better than anyone." I wink at him and smirk, hoping he got the hint. For a moment, he looks at me confusedly but I just give him another look. He mouths an "oh" and nods his head with a knowing smile. I wriggle my eyebrows at him before looking over to Arielle and nodding at her. Thankfully, she knew what I was doing and smirked as she leaned over to Jamie. Jamie looks up at Wally and the sparks are instantly flying in between them.

"Hey uh, Jamie, would you like to hang out sometime this afternoon and uh…talk or something?" Wally said. I watch Jamie's cheeks grow pink, "S-sure."

Letting out a sigh of relief, Wally said, "Cool. Um, meet you by the gym after school?"

Smiling, she nodded, a nice pink blush rising to her cheeks.

Hey, someone had to be happy at this table. Might as well be these two.

***

"See you tomorrow, my sweet," Mal says, kissing me goodbye.

I smile, "See you." Hesitantly, I get out of the car and shut the door behind me. I wave him off as he starts to drive away. It's been about two months since our first date and about six weeks into our relationship and everything just seems to be getting better. But maybe it's because he's with me majority of the day.

I unlock the door to my house and instantly, all of my good feelings disappeared. Apparently, my Father was let out of work early. I frown as I shut the door, cautiously behind me but I don't lock it.

I stare at him…and he stares at me.

"Where were you?" he growls deeply.

"I needed you here," he booms as the strong smell of alcohol and saliva floods into my nose.

"You're drunk," I growl back, without thinking – regretting it immediately.

"What did you say to me?!" he yells as he charges towards me. I try to run but he grabs my arm and pulls me back. His hand comes down across my cheek so hard that I would've fallen to the floor if he wasn't holding onto my arm. He yanked my arm, bringing me closer to him. "You know what? You're just like your mother. You just don't know where your place is nor do you appreciate a damn thing I do for you!"

I don't know why but I suddenly felt brave. I struggle against him, fighting to get away, "You did nothing for her for her but sit on your ass, get drunk, and beat her! And you treat me the same way!"

I watch as his eyes grow wide and red with fury. He brought his hand back and slapped me again, letting go of my arm. I fall to the ground, using my hands to protect my head from crashing into the floor. I quickly get to my knees and I try to crawl away but I feel two strong hands grab my right leg. He jerked me back, dragging me across the ground. A sharp pain shot through me as I hear the sickening crack of my leg twisting.

I scream in pain, tears leaking out of my eyes. He let go of my leg and flipped me over so that I face him. He straddles my waist and brings his hand up to slap me. But in the midst of that slapping it became punching.

"You ungrateful bitch! – I was the one who kept you alive for all these years! I gave you a decent living! I could've left you on the streets to die like your mother did!" he yells as continues to hit me.

"I would have been better off in the streets than be here with you!" I say, spitting out blood in his face.

"You no good wench!!" he yells, bringing his fist back. I make a quick fist and punch him in his jaw, causing him to stop his attack. Taking advantage of his state of shock, I push him off from on top of me and quickly get to my feet. I ran into the living room with my father following right behind me.

"You little bitch!! After all, I've done for you – you treat me like this!" he roars.

"I _am my MOTHER'S DAUGHTER!!"_ I cry, "That's why you've kept me all these years. Because I look like her and you thought you could change me into whatever you wanted me to be! But it didn't work… I still turned out to be like her, except I took your abuse longer than she did – until now!"

"You worthless whore!" he snarls and reaches into the nightstand drawer, pulling out a knife.

My heart beats faster with fear as the weapon shines in the light. I run into the dining room and pick up a few plates from the dresser. I turn around, throwing one of the plates at him. He grunts as the plate hits and breaks on his shoulder. "When I get my hands on you, I'm going to kill you?"

Throwing another one at him, I yell, "You've been saying that for nine years now and I'm still here, fucker!"

He shouts and he jumps over the table that has been separation us. I scream as I try to move away, dropping the plates in the process. He grabs my arm again and snatches me back.

A sharp pain zips through me, from my left shoulder blade on through. "AAGH!!" I scream through the pain. But it quickly vanishes as I turn to look at my father's demon-like eyes. I shriek with fear.

His eyes are thirsty…thirsty for blood.

He draws back his hand, ready to finish me off. In that moment, I punch him in the stomach, hard enough to make him let go of me. As soon as I break free from his grasp. I run out of the room and out the door, grabbing my book bag along the way.

My breath is hard. My heart is pounding loud and heavy in my chest with fear. My body feels weak and bruised. I just want to lie down and cry in pain. But I can't and the only thing that's keeping me going is the adrenaline coursing through my body and the fear of dying. I ran and I kept on running. I couldn't look back.

I was going to Mal's. I needed to talk to him. I needed him.

Rain is pouring hard, soaking me down to the bone. But I keep on running. I run up to the walk way of his house before I slow down, sighing in relief. Looking into his window, I freeze.

No…

In the window, I see Mal deeply kissing Terra, holding her close to his body. My breath is caught in my throat as I fight the tears burning behind my eyes. I stand there for a long moment.

I-I can't believe this. I thought he cared about me. I thought…

I bit my lip until I tasted blood to keep from screaming. I turn around, thinking of another place I can go. My sanctuary…the tree house!

I break out into a sprint, just thinking of the tree house. I ignore the pain. I ignore the heart break. I just run and pray that my feet don't fail me – running down the street, going across the corner, and into the woods. Going over the logs and through the bushes and I'm there.

I stood for a moment, looking up at the tree house. Not much had changed. I walked up to the ladder and slowly reach my left hand up to touch it.

Memories of my childhood with Gar and the rest flashed through my head. I shake it off, dropping my bag on the dirt floor, and begin to climb up it, having a slight bit of difficulty because of my left arm and right leg.

_Ba-bump!_

My heart tugs at me causing me to trip a little on a step. I freeze for a moment, looking up the ladder. I don't know why but suddenly I felt unbelievably complied to get to the top. I just had to. Taking a deep breath, I start to climb up as fast I can. The sharp pain in my left shoulder throbs and stings as I pull myself up but I bite down on my lip and struggle my way up. Eventually, I made it to the top, rolling onto the deck with a heavy breath. I look up to the sky, a few drops of rain falling in them and on them, and try to catch my breath.

"Raven?"

***

"Raven?" I say, standing out of my seat and running over to her in panic. I knelt down beside her, looking down at her confused rain covered face. Giant disgusting red welts and bleeding cuts met my eyes. With shaky eyes she looks up at me. She squeaks something inaudible but I know what she's saying.

"Help."

I wanted to know what happened to her but I bit it back. I knew I could ask her later. I put my hand under her head and another under her knees, being very careful as I lift her up from the ground and take her into the house. Setting her down gently on the bean bag, I search her over, looking at all of her marks and following the trails of blood to their source.

Her face was beaten and bruised. Her lips were cut, oozing dark red blood down her rain soaked face. Her shirt was torn with a small cut that explained the tear. I lift up her shirt, grimacing at the dark purple and brown bruises across her stomach. She looked like she was jumped by a gang or some sort.

Looking back up to her face, I say, "What-?"

"My father beats me," she choked out. I stopped.

Four words. Four simple, dreadful, horrible, _terrible_ words and my world broke. I didn't know what to do. I was paralyzed as she explained her abuse to me. She talked about her mother and the reason for moving. She talked about her own abuse over the years and why she kept me away. She told me what happened today and I sat and I listened.

"I can't do this anymore," she whimpers as the gradual tears poured from her eyes, "I can't go home. I won't. I have nowhere to go…"

Her words trailed off as I finally regain control of my limbs, wrapping them around her and bringing her into a hug. She buries her face into my chest, her words drowned out by her sobs.

Rubbing the back of her head, I comfort her. Whispering to her in a soft tone I say, "It's okay."

It's okay.

"You don't need to take it anymore."

This never should've happened.

"You never deserved anything of this."

You deserve better.

"It's okay. You're safe now."

I won't let anything hurt you ever again.

"I've got you."

I love you.

***

I feel his soft lips kiss my forehead as his hands cup my face, gently.

"Everything will be fine, I promise," he says tenderly, "We're going to get you to my house and get you taken care of, alright?"

I nod at him as I wrap my arms around his neck. He slowly lifted me off the seat but his hand landed on my back, sending an excruciatingly painful sting through me.

I clench as I hiss in pain, causing him to put me back on the chair. "What is it? What's wrong?" he asks with overly concern.

"My shoulder…" I bit my lip through the shearing pain. His brows furrowed, looking at his blood stained hand. Instantly his eyes widen and before I could blink he gets behind me to look at my back. I hear in suck in his breath, his fingers lightly touching my torn, sensitive skin.

"We need to get you out of here," he mutters. He stands up and tries to lift me again, "This might hurt a bit."

And he was right. He picked me up bridal style, my legs stinging. He carries me back outside to the ladder and starts to go down it, letting one hand hold onto the ladder and the other supporting my legs. I hold onto him tighter, burying my face into the crook of his neck I inhale his scent.

Pine, soap, and tofu…the smell suited him. I feel myself smile as I breathed in his scent

"You're staying at my house. There's no question about that," I hear him grunt as he goes down another step, "I promise…"

I didn't hear anything else. Those words ringing over and over again in my ears as I slip into the darkness...

* * *

**A/N: Hello again! I decided to give you a double treat since the last chapter was short compared to the others. Plus this chapter is really, really, really long! So I'm breaking it up just to make the story go longer. I hope you guys like! Don't kill me for the abuse... it was necessary. It's the last of the abuse, I promise! The next one should be coming in soon! These will probably be reloaded as soon as I hear from my BETA. I'll let you guys know when it happens. Well that's all for now...peace!**

**Bleeding Writer**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.**

**Chapter 18:**

**The Truth Part Two**

"She's gonna be okay. She's gonna be okay. She's gonna be okay," I mumble to myself over and over again, trying to convince myself that it's true.

It's not working.

I feel awful. I had to tell the nurse about Raven's father and I'm not sure it was the right thing to do. She'll be 18 in two weeks, so I don't have to worry about her going into foster care or whatever.

But still – I feel like it's not my secret to tell. But they needed to know what happened and it all… it just slipped out.

"Garfield?" I hear my mother's frantic voice; she walks over quickly and hugs me tightly, "Oh honey, you're okay! I was so worried! I got your note. Wha - what happened? What are you doing here?"

"Raven's hurt, Mom," I say as we pull away from each other.

"Oh, Gar, I'm so sorry. What happened?"

"She's really beat up and she passed out." Letting it all slip out again.

"Oh! Who would do such a thing?"

"Her father," I say, slightly surprised at the hate in my voice. Then again, he had hurt her. _My_ Raven.

"Oh…" is all that my Mother says.

"Oh, and Mom?" I say," Raven's staying with us from now on."

It wasn't a question. It was a statement.

Fortunately, my Mom knew this, "Of course, yes. Like I would let her go back to live with horrible man. Yes, she'll sleep in Gloria's room. But Gar, are you okay?"

That was an absurd question, "Yes, Mom. Of course, I'm okay. I'm not the one who's been beaten by my Father and laid up in a hospital."

"No, I mean, how are you holding up? With all of this?"

"What?"

"I'm just asking if you're okay. Gar, you've been crazy over this girl since the day you met her. I still remember how happy you were after your first day of school. And how you kept raving on and on about this girl named, Raven. You were so cute. And then, when you spent time together… ah, it was so adorable. You never let her out of your sight. Now that you know…everything…" she swallowed, trying not to get too upset. She cared about Raven a lot too. "There's got to be something upsetting you."

I smile and nod as I feel tears prickling the back of my eyes. "Yeah…there's a lot that I'm upset about. I mean, Raven was abused for…God knows how long. She disappeared because of her Father. I'm upset that she was afraid to tell me. I'm upset because she protected me when we were younger but she was the one who really needed it. I was close to losing her tonight, Mom. All because I didn't see what was going on."

A tear found its way out of my eye, sliding down my cheek. I wipe it away as Mom brings my head to her chest, comfortingly.

"Ssh… it's okay. It's going to be okay, baby. It doesn't matter what happened in the past. What matters is what happened now. And you were there for her when she needed you. And you still are now. Okay?" She says with a smile, "She's going to be okay because of you."

Pulling away from her, I smile sadly in thanks.

"Garfield Logan?" I hear someone call. I turn and see a doctor in his early 40s looking around.

I stand, while wiping another tear away. "I'm Garfield Logan."

"Well, Mr. Logan, I'm Dr. Lehigh, Rachael's doctor. She's going to be okay," he says. I sigh in relief as he continued on, peering past his glasses and reading her medical sheet, "Her leg is fractured and pretty swollen so it'll be in a cast for a month and a half and then she'll have surgery done to her knee. Her shoulder blade is okay for the most part. It's very swollen and inflamed so it'll hurt to move her left arm – she also has a cast for that. We stitched up the cut but it'll be able to come off in by the end of this month."

"Why did she pass out?" I ask.

He shook it off like it was nothing, "She was tired. After all that energy she used under all that stress, I would've been surprised if she didn't." He didn't know Raven. "But she should be up soon, if you want to see her."

I nod eagerly as I follow him. I look behind me, seeing Mom waving me off as if to say, "I'll be there soon enough."

I smile back. I love my Mom.

* * *

_**Beep…beep…beep…**_

Mmm… what's that sound?

I try to open my eyes but they're abnormally heavy as if there were weights on my eyelashes. I try again. Please, don't let me be in a coma.

With a lot of effort, my eyes crack open, a bright light flooding into my eyes. I shut them again. Wasn't ready for that sort of surprise. Okay… let's try this again. I open my eyes, wincing a bit from the light but continue on. Blurry figures come into my view past the light.

Okay….so it's safe to say that I'm not in a coma and I'm not dead.

"Mmmhmm?"

One of the figures say, slowly coming more into focus as my hearing gets better too.

"Mmcmm?"

"Rmchmm?"

"Rachmm?"

"Rachael?" There we are! I look up from the flashlight shining in my face to the faces behind it. One, I recognize as Gar and the other one holding a flashlight in my face and waving it from one side of my vision to the other. I'm guessing he's the doctor.

"Rachael, can you hear me?" he said, slowly.

I try to open my mouth but throat is dry. I nod instead.

"Okay then, follow my finger," I listen to him, wanting him to get out of my face as soon as possible. "Okay. Well you're fine for the most part. You're pretty battered up. But you'll heal just fine, thanks to this guy right here."

He pats Gar lightly on the shoulder and quickly tells me my condition and hands me a glass of water before he rushed off to another patient. I don't look at Gar, slightly ashamed to meet his gaze. Not really wanting to have the conversation I see coming, I stare at the thin cotton blanket spread over my legs. I hear him sit down in the chair next to my bed and sigh. From the corner of my eye, I see him run his fingers through his hair, gripping it at the back and letting it go as he lets go of the breath he was holding.

"How are you?" he asks simply, looking back up at me.

"As good as I can be," I say back, my eyes still on the blanket. Taking my hand in his two big ones, he caressed the back of it with his thumb and kissed it. A blush rose to my cheeks.

"I'm sorry," he murmurs, sadly.

Furrowing my eyebrows, I say, "For what?"

"For everything."

"What are you talking about?" my voice full of concern.

"You were always protecting me when we were kids but you were the one who needed protection."

"No, it's not your fault, Gar -."

"Everyone keeps saying that!" he huffs, dropping my hand and moving to the other side of the room with his back to me.

"Because it isn't," I say as calmly as possible. The worst thing I could do would be to get riled up too. "You didn't do this to me. You didn't know -."

"But I should have," he darkly said, over his shoulder.

I continue on, "You shouldn't be upset."

Turning around hotly, he said, "How can I not, Raven?"

He looked horrible. His green hair was disheveled from running his fingers through it. His eyes were bloodshot and sunken. His body slumped, exhausted from today's stress. His clothes were messy and damp, thanks to the rain and mud we went through. For his complexion, he was pale with worry. On top of all that, he was shaking either from exhaustion or emotional rage.

"I've been your best friend since kindergarten and I just find out what's been happening to you for God- knows- how- long? Jesus – how can I not blame myself, Rae? Tell me that!"

Emotional rage.

"Because I said that it's not your fault. What more do I need to say?" He turns his back to me, his body tense and shaky. I wanted to get up. I wanted him to make him feel better somehow. But I knew no matter what I say or do would make him stop blaming himself. I tried to anyway.

"I didn't give you any reason to suspect that I was being abused. With every bruise I got, I covered well with makeup. I learned remedies to cure black eyes as fast as possible. I wore long sleeves or jackets and jeans and so on to hide everything. I didn't want to burden anyone with this – especially you. I knew you'd get like this."

"I have every right to be," he said turning back to me. The look in his eyes told all the hurt he felt for me not telling him. The pain in my leg earlier didn't match to how I felt now. And I felt _horrible_.

I search my mind for words to say but there were none but, "Come here…please."

I could gag over how meek I sounded. But regardless, he sighs, deflating like a balloon. He walks over to my bedside and sits on the edge. As if he couldn't hold himself up anymore, he laid over me and rested his head on my stomach, wrapping his arms, gently, around my frame. I put my hands in his hair, running my fingers through it. I knew no matter what he was feeling at the time, he would calm down a little bit. For that moment, we silently agreed to drop all of it. What was done was done. There was nothing that we could do about it now. He wasn't going to stop feeling bad about it and nor was I. It was best if you just left it alone as it was.

In that moment, a thought crosses my mind making me feel worse about myself. I have to tell him about Terra and Malcolm. But I don't know how or when. But I have to tell him before he finds out for himself. On the other hand… right now may not be the best of times.

"Am I interrupting something?" I hear a voice say.

I turn my head and see Mrs. Logan standing at the doorway with smile. Gar quickly lefts up his head up from my stomach and starts wiping at his eyes.

Wait…he was crying?

"Hey Mom," Gar says, nervously.

She nods and smiles at him as she makes her way over to me, "Gar, honey, could you run down to the cafeteria and get me a coffee, please? You know how I like it. And take your time while you're at it."

Putting on a straight face, he nods at her and leaves the room, looking back at me as he walked out the door. I forgot how he used to listen to his Mom all the time.

Looking back at the woman I had considered my second mother as a child, I smile. She looked practically the same as she did all those years ago but with more grey hair and laugh lines now. Her, once, long blonde hair was cut a little above the shoulders and curled under. Her small blue eyes twinkled as she smiled her pearly white smile at me. She looked a lot taller back then. I must be taller than her now.

"Oh Raven," she says sweetly, sitting in the chair next to me, "It's been so long since I've seen you last. Oh, you look just like your mother, you know that?"

I gasp a little at the mention of her. "I bet you're a little fighter like she was."

I snort, "Some fighter she was."

"Don't you say that about your mother," she snaps, her kind demeanor fading a bit, "She fought for you, didn't she? She looked for you ferociously for days. She called the police. When they told her that there was nothing they could do, she wouldn't accept it. She wouldn't eat, she wouldn't sleep. She didn't talk to anyone. She holed herself up and got lost in trying to find you. Her reason to fight was for you and only for you. Don't you ever say otherwise."

I look down at my blanket, hating the way she was looking at me. I felt fingers lightly touch my chin, lifting my head up. "And you're just like your mother – stronger than her, in fact. You've always been a fighter."

"I don't fight that much anymore," I mumble.

"Oh yes, you do, maybe not with your fist like you did as a child but you still fight. You're here, aren't you? After everything that has happened tonight? A lot of girls don't get away from situations like yours. And here you are," she says softly, "Safe and sound."

I smile a little, still unable to say anything. She was always the woman that knew just what to say. I watch as her eyes look over me, lingering on something.

"Oh my… he gave you the penny," she murmurs, looking back up at me.

I look at her confusedly, clutching onto the penny around my neck, "Yes, Gar gave this to me when we were kids."

She smiles brightly again, "You know he got that when he first went to kindergarten, right?"

"No," I say shaking my head.

"Do you know the story behind it?"

"Yes. He's grandfather found it and met his grandmother. It was passed down to Mr. Logan and he met you…" I trailed off. I met him the first day of kindergarten and he had received the penny on that day. If the luck of the penny story was true then that meant…

"Yes Raven," she says as if she read my mind, "It's exactly what you think."

"But it can't be. It's just a penny-."

"Sometimes the simplest of things can be the most miraculous, Raven," she says, pushing my hair behind my head, "You'll see. Now keep this hush-hush for the moment."

I nod dumbly, still trying to take all of this in. Suddenly, I hear the door to my room slide open, "I'm back."

"Oh thank you Gar, sweetie," she says, taking her coffee from him.

Pulling a stuffed chicken from behind my back, I say, "I know stuffed animals aren't your thing but I wanted to get you something. So it was either this or flowers and stupid get well cards. Plus the gift shop here is really, really expensive."

I saw her smile at me as I handed her the bear, "No it's fine. I like it. Thank you."

* * *

_**Knock!**_

_**Knock!**_

I turn around to see Dr. Lehigh sliding at the glass door open, "Sorry to interrupt," Dr. Fischer says as he walks in, "I don't think I properly introduced myself earlier to you, Ms. Roth. I'm Dr. Lehigh, your Doctor and I'll be taking care of you. Now I have some good news. You'll be able to leave here in about three days. Which leads me to ask if you have anyone to take care of you at home?"

"She'll be staying with us," I hear my mom say, "And I won't have it any other way."

"Then, I need you to come with me," he says walking towards the door, my mother following behind him.

I look back at Raven, "I told Mom there would be no way you're going back home."

Fiddling with her stuffed chicken, she said, "You kept your promise."

"Of course," I say sitting on the edge of her bed, "Like I'd let you go back to your house on your own."

She smiles, looking down at the plush chicken in her hands, "Thank you, Gar."

"For what?"

"For everything."

I smile as I lean to kiss her forehead, "No problem, Raven."

* * *

**A/N: Guess who's back? Back again? I'm back, tell a friend! Hey guys, long time since the last update I know and I'm sorry for that. College is quite hectic and I don't have the time to sit down and type this. But I'm on Summer break so I'm going to try to crank these chapters out as soon as I can. Thank you lalabubbles for being my BETA! I hope you guys like this chapter. Next chapter we're meeting all the Logan's (my favorite chapter!) so if you love the Mom and the siblings you're going to love the next one! Well that's all for now...Peace!**

**Bleeding Writer**


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